The Mysterious Boy and The Girl who loved Mystery
by ulrich007
Summary: The "Ultimate Power Team" is back! Damian and Maps are starting to know each other more and both will find out they have more in common that it seems!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: A letter**

Being the son of a billionaire has a lot of benefits: For example you can travel anywhere you want, have a butler that can attend you every time, buy whatever you want, be the heir of a great fortune and most importantly, be the center of attention after your own father. But for Damian Wayne, those things weren't the most important; he was more interested in something else, which was to fight criminals alongside his father as the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, protectors of Gotham City.

However, there was something that had been bothering his father for a while: It was the fact that Damian wasn't very much of a social person. For Damian, the whole concept of friendship wasn't something to his liking, and there were very few people who could actually keep up a conversation like for example the bat-family, his pets, or the titans. Bruce knew that his son had a difficult childhood being raised by the League of Assassins, but at least the bond that he had with Damian was in good terms, nevertheless he felt his son needed something more. That's why Bruce decided to enroll his child in the prestigious Gotham Academy, so he could "interact" with people of his own age and build bonds with normal people.

What happened after a few days was that, upon entering the school, the young Wayne was expelled by the headmaster for confessing stealing some valuable objects of the academy. However, he actually didn't do any of those things. Even though he admitted to being responsible, he was actually defending someone: A girl.

This girl was totally different from him on the personality aspect: Childish, great humor, creative, persistent, and sometimes stressful, but above all those things, she was someone with a passion for adventure. They were literally polar opposites, yet during that time together; they formed the " _Ultimate power team"_ according to her. The only thing that Damian could remember from her was her last name: Mizoguchi. You could say that at least, from that place, she was his only friend. Sometimes Damian wondered how the girl was doing in the academy, and if she was away from any kind of danger.

During a quiet night in the Wayne Manor, Damian was a bit anxious. His father decided to watch on the streets of Gotham by himself, ordering his son to take a rest after spending many nights fighting criminals without a proper rest. Damian didn't like the idea, but he obeyed the decision by staying in his bedroom, meditating peacefully until someone knocked on the door.

" _May I come in?"_ asked a young voice that Damian recognized.

"What do you want _, Drake_? I don't have time for your foolishness."

" _I just wanted to check on you and talk for a bit, you know. Please?"_ said Tim while in the hall.

After a brief minute of silence, Damian sighted and agreed to let this person enter his bedroom. This guy was actually Tim Drake, known as the previous Robin before Damian and currently known by the bat-family as " _Red Robin_ ". Upon entering, the child offered him a seat on a chair near his desktop, and Drake accepted it. The relationship between them wasn't the best. Ever since they met, both had a sort of rivalry to prove who was worthy to be Robin, until Tim finally agreed to give the mantle to Damian. The young Wayne since then always presumed and mocked everyone that he was the best boy wonder of all.

"Aside from bothering me, give me a reason why you've come here disrupting me from my meditation."

"Hey, no need to act like that, _Damian_. Just wondering how you've been."

"-tt- Good, now leave."

"Wait, I also wanted to ask you something: Since when do you go around giving girls batarangs?"

" _Excuse me_?"

 _How did he know about that_? Damian remembered that back before leaving the Academy, he gave Maps one of his own batarangs, the same girl he defended and considered his only friend from that place. He gave it to her to use just in case she was in a dangerous situation. The young Wayne didn't think she would use it so early, but imagined that sooner or later she was going to get into trouble with it. What Damian was worried about was how Tim had discovered this.

"How do you know this?"

"It was quite easy to be honest. It's not common to see a girl from the Gotham Academy throwing batarangs right into my face while I'm trying to investigate something very important." Reply Tim with a smile.

"Maybe it was one of those random Batman fanatics. Those idiots have nothing better to do than make cheap copies of ours."

"It wasn't a copy, Damian. I checked it myself, and it was one made in the Bat-cave."

"-tt-, and why do you assume I gave her that?"

"Because you entered the Academy days ago, and got expelled in the dumbest way possible." Say Tim in a sarcastic tone.

"Listen, Drake: That girl dragged me into some stupid mess that day, and I was sick of staying in that boring place. Besides, we have thousands of batarangs; it's not the end of the world just because I gave one to a stupid child like her as a reward for giving me a reason to get expelled."

Tim went into a brief silence after hearing Damian's answer. He didn't seem convinced by it, and after thinking for some minutes, the previous Robin gave a mischievous smile while approaching and laughing a little bit.

"Reward for expelling you? Or maybe little Damian got worried for this girl and didn't want something bad to happen to her?" said Tim.

"If you want me to kill you, you don't need to bother me. I can take one of my swords and end your suffering." answered Damian with anger.

"Alright, alright, take it easy. I'll leave you alone…"

"Don't tell my father any of this. I'm warning you!"

"Of course, I'm not gonna tell Bruce. If he finds it out, your time as Robin will finish up just as quickly as your time at the Academy." said Tim as he was about to leave.

"Wait, Drake. Before leaving I have to ask you something." said Damian.

"What is it?"

" _Is she_ …alright?" asked Damian while looking somewhere else.

"Oh yeah, nothing bad happened to your friend. By the way, she has good aim. Why do you ask?"

"-tt- No reason…"

"You know, I think you should check on her. Who knows, maybe she misses you too." said Tim as he left the room with a laugh.

"Good-bye, Drake." replied Damian, before slamming the door with anger.

Why would he get worried for someone such as her? Tim and the other boys of the family could wish for something like that from the young Wayne just for the whole purpose to mock on him. For Damian, the only people that he truly cared for were his family and pets. However, Robin was curious with some things: How did Maps met Red Robin, and how was she doing right now? He started to think for a while. Maybe a simple message to find out how she was wouldn't hurt anyone, but no one of the family should know about it, especially the boys. But how could he send that note if they never shared their phones before? It seemed that the only option he had left was the old fashioned one: A letter.

He sat on the chair near his desk, took a piece of paper with a pen and started writing whatever came to his mind first. He had trouble starting the letter. Choosing between a classic " _How you've been?_ " to even a formal " _Greeting Miss Mizoguchi_ " gave him some frustration, mostly because he didn't understand why he couldn't make a simple greeting. After that, he created the necessary sentences to end up destroying the paper with anger, due to some grammar mistakes, and messages without sense. Many hours later, Damian finally made the perfect letter according to him. He checked on it many times and decided to seal it but then he started to think: " _Will Mizoguchi understand this?_ " After all, now that he remembered, she wasn't actually the most intelligent girl, and she was, well, quiet…easily distracted by everything. Damian imagined the girl throwing the piece of paper out of boredom and that angered him way more than before. So he decided to start all over again. This thing about making friends was something very annoying now that he thought about it.

After many hours of thinking and writing, Damian had finished with what he thought was the ideal letter for someone like her. He added the location of the Gotham Academy and to whom the message was for. Now he needed to place it on the mailbox until someone else opened the door of his bedroom: It was Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of the Wayne family.

"Dinner is almost ready, Master Damian."

"Ah, Pennyworth, just when I needed your service. I want you to place this letter in the mailbox right away."

"May I ask what made a boy of your age make this…letter? It's something very unusual considering you have a cellphone and a computer."

"The only thing you need to know is that none of the other boys can find out about this."

"Is it a letter for your mother? If so, your father will not be very comfortable with this.

"-tt- It's not for her. It's for a…friend." said Damian quietly.

"I beg your pardon? I didn't quiet hear what you just said."

" _It's for a friend_."

"Oh how wonderful! And here I thought you would end up becoming a hermit just like your father!"

"-tt- Just do your job and leave me alone."

"As you wish, I'll put this letter in the mailbox right now." said Alfred while leaving the room.

"And I also want a Caesar's salad, Thank you." said Damian before closing the door.

As Alfred walked down the aisles of the mansion, he became quite curious about the letter of Damian, wondering who the mysterious friend was. Suddenly, a wall opened and revealed a dark passage with a few lights illuminating a staircase. The butler was not at all frightened, for he knew very well where the passage was, and who the person who came out of that place was. It was none other than Bruce Wayne, owner of the mansion and secretly the masked hero, known as Batman.

"Alfred."

"Welcome back, Master Bruce. I assume you had an interesting patrol tonight."

"Just the usual. The villains are very quiet tonight. I'll check on the main computer if they are up to something bigger."

"Would you like some dinner then?"

"Sure, a little bit of food would be nice. How is Damian doing?"

"Now that you mention. I just checked on him and he seemed quiet…different."

"It's probably because I ordered him to rest tonight. I'll talk with him later."

"I doubt that's the reason, sir. I think your boy is actually becoming more…mature."

It was then that Bruce noticed the letter that his butler had in his hand. Curiosity entered his mind and he wanted to know what that was. It was not usual to see a letter considering that nowadays everyone was using cell phones.

"What've you got there?" asked Bruce.

"Well you see, Master Damian ordered me to leave this… letter, in the mailbox."

"A letter? Let me see." said Bruce while looking it over. "It says to Miss Mizoguchi with the Gotham Academy address."

"Your son asked me to ensure that none of his brothers see this letter, so if you'll excuse me, I'll be leaving this in its proper place."

"Interesting…"

"What is it, sir?"

"I met this girl once; she activated the Bat-signal all by herself just to show me some…drawings."

"I hope you didn't destroy the little girl's dreams, sir." Say Alfred.

"…they were ok." said Bruce. "I'll go back to the cave to…investigate."

"Investigate the villains or this new girl?" asked the butler.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: An answer**

A few days passed in the prestigious Gotham Academy and it seemed that nothing interesting was happening so far. And for Mia " _Maps_ " Mizoguchi, the interesting things for her were stuff related with the paranormal, attacks from strange monsters, mysteries that needed to be solved and most important, adventures along with her friends. But sadly, none of those things were happening right now, instead there were just the typical and boring classes about history, science and other educational stuff. The poor girl couldn't handle it and whenever she had free time, she tried to hang out with Olive and the other members of the group, but sadly everyone seemed very busy or nowhere to be found and these things made her anxious and desperate to look out for something, since there was nothing else to do.

Spending the whole day in her bedroom wasn't actually one of her favorite places, but at least it was there where she kept most of her memories of the past adventures and could remember the emotion she had back then. One of those memories that she kept in a very well state and much hidden was the batarang that Damian Wayne, the son of the billionaire Bruce Wayne, gave it to her. Her friends knew perfectly that Maps was a very devoted fan of Batman, so far to end up activating the bat-signal just to show the dark crusader some drawings made by herself.

When there was nothing else to do, like in this case, Maps sometimes decided to practice her aim while using the item she got from the Wayne kid. Each day she was getting much better but she was more worried that the batarang didn't break up. While she was practicing, someone started to knock on the door and Maps got scared for a second. She hid the batarang quickly under her pillow to answer right away, revealing that the one who knocked the door was actually none other than her older brother.

"Oh hey _Kyle_!" said a smiling Maps. "What an unexpected surprise! May I ask why you are here? Is it because your tennis practice got cancelled? Is it because your coach has disappeared and there is a mystery that needs to be solved and you need me?! Please say yes because I'm really bored right now!"

"Whoa, easy there, Mia. None of those things happened."

"Crap! I was searching for you guys everywhere and none of you were to be found! Being like this is killing me out of boredom!"

"Well, let's see if this cheers you up in some way. I got this from the mail and it's actually for you: It's a… _letter_ " said Kyle with a bit of annoyance at the last word.

"A letter? That's…weird. Is it a lost letter?! Does it have a treasure map or a secret location around the academy?!"

"Nope. None of that. It's just a letter from a boy. From _Damian_ … _Wayne_?"

"Damian?" asked Maps surprised.

Maps started to remember the Wayne kid back from the last time they worked together: He was very mysterious kid who knew how to defend himself while making incredible moves, pretty cool according to her. But those thoughts were quickly replaced as she also remembered how annoying and show off he was in every one of the situations they both went. However, the girl admitted he was pretty awesome at saving her from being expelled from the academy, she considered that a great gesture of friendship and consequently considered him a friend. Not the same as the people of her group, but at least someone who could be called like that.

The youngest Mizoguchi stopped thinking for while on those things, going back into reality and see his brother's face, which did not looked very comfortable while holding the so called letter. She took the object from him, sat on her bed and carefully started to open it.

"I thought you didn't like that pretentious kid."

"He sure is. But thanks to him, I'm still in this place." said Maps with a smile.

"Wait. What? You never told me that…"

"Long story: He took responsibility and let himself getting expelled instead of me."

"Wow, that sure is sacrificing for someone else." said Kyle. "But that doesn't explain why he send you a letter."

"Is that a _bad_ thing or something?"

"No, well…I mean…the thing is that… it's just weird coming from a millionaire kid such as him to send something like this. And especially to someone like you."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing, nothing." said Kyle.

Kyle was partially right, it wasn't normal for a kid like Damian to send a hand-written letter. But that's what makes this interesting, isn't? Once the letter was opened, Maps started to read it carefully while her older brother started to take a look to see what was going on between these two. She noticed that and quickly hide the letter and showing a clear expression of disturbed with a little blush.

"What do you think you are doing, Kyle?" asked Maps angrily. "This is my letter! Is your name in here? I don't think so!"

"Hey, I just…wanted to see what the letter has."

"Do I spy on you when you want to go talk with Olive alone?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. You do that quite a lot now."

"This is different! She is your _ex_ not so _ex_!" shouted Maps.

"Would you keep it quiet!?" shouted Kyle with a bright blush. "It's complicated!"

"Just get out of here!"

"Fine! I'll leave!" said Kyle before leaving and closing the door.

Why was his older brother so interested in seeing the content of this message? It's not like it was a confession of a crime made by Damian or something. Kyle could sometimes be very protective on her and because of it, Maps sometimes was a little bit annoyed by it. But that didn't matter anymore, now she was alone and it was time to see what the famous Damian Wayne had written to her. To her surprise, the written part occupied almost the entire sheet and she began to read with detail:

" _Greetings Miss Mizoguchi:_

 _The reason why I write this letter is primarily because we did not have the opportunity to exchange phones the last time we met and secondly, you should actually feel worthy of receiving a message from me. There are very few people whom I consider sending something like this and to mostly dedicate my attention to them. I wanted to know how you've been and if you were still in that boring place called "academy". If you wish, you can send a reply and I will personally write you another one soon._

 _Sincerely,  
Damian Wayne"_

Maps remained silent and stared at the letter for a few minutes with an expression of discomfort. At first, she wanted to throw the letter into the trash with great annoyance after seeing that Damian was, even in a letter, the same smug boy of before, but now he was showing an interest in knowing how she was. The girl was thoughtful for several minutes and did not know whether to respond with a new letter, until she look back the batarang that was hidden and watched to see every detail in it.

The memories of that adventure she had with him had been curious: She thought he was great but at the same time a big jerk, but in the depths of his being, he was someone who cared for people, in his own way of course. Maps did not realized until then, but when it stopped thinking about that adventure, it was already beginning to get dark. She felt that perhaps an answer wasn't going to be bad after all. She smiled, sat in the ground and with pen in hand, began to write on a sheet of notebook a small letter, as well as drawing some things that came to his mind such as a small drawing of her or Damian playing happily and even an angry face of the Wayne boy.

 _"Hey Damian!_

 _It's funny that you write me in such a moment like this. Everyone is so busy and things are so boring around here that there is literally nothing to do! That reminds me one day that all my friends were so busy that I had to create a mystery so that we would have fun again but that's another story. Going back to what I wanted to say: You could say I'm fine, but right now I'm just really bored and I'd like to have fun with something or someone soon._

 _P.S: Did you write so much for just wanting to know how I was? You sure are a very strange boy, Damian Wayne. I'll let you my phone number in here!_

 _Fondly,  
Maps Mizoguchi"_

And so, the girl obsessed with maps and mysteries sealed the letter and decided to deliver it to the post office of the Academy at a hurried pace. She left her bedroom and ran down the aisles and the outsides of the academy before they closed the main office, while dodging any obstacle or person. Maps already started to imagine how Damian would react and just by thinking of it, made her laugh like crazy and attract the attention of anyone who crossed her path. One of those people who appeared to her was her best friend Olive, who saw her from a distance and without thinking; she decided to follow her until she reached her.

" _Maps!_ What's going on? Why are you in such a hurry?" said Olive as she tried to keep up with her friend.

"Nothing important, just going to send a letter to _someone_."

"A _letter_? Is my very best friend hiding something that I should know?"

"Let's just say it's for a friend."

"A " _friend_ …?" asked Olive with a bit of mischievous voice.

"All right, all right, I'll admit it. A _billionaire_ friend." said Maps.

At first, Olive thought that this " _friend"_ of Maps was someone who was possibly beginning to fall in love with her. But knowing her best friend, she knew that Maps wasn't that interested in such subjects like love or couples. Her friend was more dedicated to the mystery, to the riddles and to Batman. At least Olive could see that Maps was in a good mood delivering the letter right about to be sent, very happy apparently. And that was what really mattered to Silverlock, seeing her friend happy.

"And who is this billionaire _friend_ of yours?" asked Olive.

"Damian Wayne." answered Maps while putting the letter into the mailbox.

"Wait. Damian Wayne? _The_ Damian Wayne? The son of Bruce Wayne?"

"Geez, you are acting just like Kyle when he gave me his letter." said Maps with a bit of discomfort.

"You mean Damian Wayne send you a letter _personally_ to you? Wow Maps, you really surprise me every each day."

"Yes, I'm actually surprised too! What kind of rich kid with so much money can't even use a cellphone to send a message?" questioned Maps.

"I wasn't talking about that but…now that you mention it, you're quite right." said Olive. "But what I meant is that I find surprising the fact that you caught the attention of one of the most popular kids in the whole city."

"So? It's no big deal. There's only one person in this whole world that I would die for get some attention and that's Batman himself…and maybe Robin. Yeah, he's kinda cool too."

"Well, so far you've gained the attention of the rich kid. Get used to it."

"I guess. Hey, let's go to the cafeteria, I'm hungry and I think its pizza night." said Maps happily.

A few weeks later, somewhere else on the outsides of the Wayne Manor, there was a boy waiting impatiently next to the mailbox in early hours of the morning, looking almost everywhere. It seemed as if he was looking for something or someone. Meanwhile, two young men were staring at the kid from a distance at the kitchen, wondering what Bruce Wayne's son was doing. These two youngsters were Dick Grayson, known as the first Robin of all and actually called by the name of " _Nightwing_ ", while the other one was Tim Drake already known as " _Red Robin_ ".

"What do you think _he's_ doing?" asked Dick.

"I don't know, it's…weird of him to do this. Usually at this time he takes Titus for a walk." said Tim while drinking some coffee.

"Don't you guys think you should focus on more important things?" asked a voice far away.

Both Dick and Tim, old Batman's comrades-in-arms, turned to see where that voice came from and saw none other than Bruce Wayne, who entered into the kitchen with a tired look on his face, typical of him after spending a whole night fighting the most dangerous criminals of the city. Alfred, who was present at the place too, quickly began to prepare Bruce's breakfast as he did every morning.

"Long night, Bruce?" asked Dick.

"Crime never rest and you two know it perfectly." replied Bruce with seriousness while taking his cup of coffee.

"Yeah, we know pretty much." commented Tim.

"What's going on?" asked the leader of the family.

"Master Damian has been at the door of the mansion almost all morning, waiting for some sort of… delivery about something. He barely took breakfast and left." said Alfred.

"All the morning?" asked Bruce.

"For several weeks." replied the three of them.

"Well, I'll admit it. The kid is pretty dedicated when he wants to." Said Bruce with a smile.

A few hours later and with the older Robins gone from the mansion, Alfred decided to take a walk with Titus, one of the many pets Damian had around the place, since the kid seemed more focused on waiting next to the mailbox. Meanwhile, Bruce was getting ready for an important meeting with some of the executive directors of "Wayne Industries" so he needed to wear and look elegantly as he did most of the time during the day. However, he was very curious of the actual behavior of his own son and the reason behind it.

Once ready, Bruce decided to go downstairs to the main door of the mansion and watching Alfred returning from taking a walk with Titus. The butler started to get the limousine ready to transport the leader of the bat-family to the Wayne Tower, while suddenly the main door open and Damian appeared, holding in one of his hands what it appears a letter. Once Bruce saw him, he decided to approach his son and Damian tried to hid the letter.

"Good morning, Damian."

"Greetings, father." replied the young with respect.

"Didn't saw you during the breakfast. Where you've been?"

"-tt- I was…waiting for _something_."

"Waiting that thing you have in your hand? What is it?" asked his father.

Damian tried not to look suspicious. However, he learned not to keep any secrets to his family and less to his own father. Although he was a bit of embarrassed, he showed the letter that Maps send to him a few weeks ago to Bruce. The leader of the bat-family made a smile while his son just wanted to go back into his room.

"It's a letter…from a _friend_." said Damian while looking down. "If you'll excuse me, father, I'll go meditate in my room."

"" _Meditate"_ , of course." Bruce answered with a little smirk.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:** **Knowing the Mysterious Boy**

It was time for the daily training at the Wayne Manor and Damian had decided to start his routine at the large gym in his house, practicing different areas to maintain an impressive physique for someone of his age: Starting with a few stunts, use of traditional weapons and even performing different types of martial arts, which he had learned from a very young age.

The current Robin always wanted to master his abilities the best he could, because he knew that, sooner or later, he would inherit the mantle of its father to become the new protector of Gotham. And for Damian, he wasn't going to let any of his " _brothers_ " take that job, as he felt it was his birth right.

During one of the training sessions with the use of the wooden dummy, Damian stepped forward, and took a deep breath before he started attacking the object. His speed in each hit was fast and effective, just like his father. With the passing of the hours, it seemed that Damian would not stop until a voice that mentioned his name made him lose his concentration.

"I'm busy, _Pennyworth_." Said Damian a bit bothered.

"Pardon the interruption, Master Damian. But I think you've been here long enough, and you should take a rest after almost spending three hours without resting. If you go on like this, you might faint because of so much effort."

"-tt- I do not need the advice of a butler."

"No. But if you continue like this, this butler will not attend you when you drop to the ground because of the fatigue. And I doubt your father will let you use the gym for a while, when he finds out what you've been doing." Alfred replied with certainty.

"Fine, you win Pennyworth. I'll go to my bedroom." Replied Damian while he took a towel and left the room.

"Sometimes raising these younglings sure gives me a headache." Alfred sighed.

Damian knew that Alfred wasn't a bad person; everyone in the mansion treated him like a paternal figure and gave him their respect. It was like some sort of voice of reason during the most difficult moments for the bat-family and the things he said, no matter how hard they were, they had the best of intentions.

Once the son of Bruce Wayne came to his room, he wiped his face with the towel and lay down on his bed with a sigh of exhaustion, and then stared for a while at the ceiling. Being still was not very much his style, even though he took long times to meditate. He stood up again and saw on his desk the letter Maps had given him in response, Damian looked at the letter seriously and opened it again to read the message she gave him.

Since receiving the letter, Damian read the letter over and over again whenever he could, and stood there without doing anything. He saw the drawings and sometimes felt a bit angry when he saw how the face he had in the illustrations that made him look like an annoying monster and Maps like a cheerful girl making fun of him.

"-tt- This is ridiculous, I don't look like this at all."

But what he saw with more attention was the last thing she gave him in the letter: It was her phone number. Was this the opportunity for him to socialize with someone " _normal_ " and have a new friend? Just thinking about it made him reconsider his options and turn back, but Damian Wayne would never give up on anyone, much less a girl who did scribbled mediocre sketches and acted in such a childish way. He kept the number on his personal phone and was ready to make a call but kept his finger near the call button. Was this really worth of it? He could confront thousands of criminals without resting and even willing to kill them, but he couldn't make a call to a simple person and hold a conversation.

After some minutes, Damian finally decided to press the call button. He put his phone near his ear and began to feel nervous thinking what could go wrong with all of this, all while the phone sounded like the call was being made.

" _Hello?_ " Answered the voice of a girl coming from the phone.

As soon as that voice was heard, Damian hung up quickly and set the cell phone back to the desk and stared at it for several minutes. " _What a great first impression_." he thought with shame towards his first " _normal_ " friend. Maybe she would not take the time to call back to find out who called her and they could both go back to their lives. But what Damian Wayne didn't know was that, it was Maps Mizoguchi, someone who never gave up and sought to solve any kind problem or mystery. His phone rang again and took him by surprise, causing him to almost let it fall to the ground; fortunately he caught him in time and saw who was: It was _Maps_. Damian showed an expression of discomfort but he could not let a moment so embarrassing happen, he had to be brave, answer the call and face his destiny.

"Yes? Who am I speaking with?" Asked Damian as if nothing ever happened.

"Hello? I've been called with this number and wanted to know who it is."

"I…well… I am…"

"Wait! Wait!" Interrupted Maps out of a sudden. "Let me guess: Is this _Batman_? Please tell me yes and you're calling me to be your new Robin! Please! I even have my own Robin suit design! You're gonna love it!"

Damian stayed for a few minutes in silence. It seemed like Maps didn't changed at all since the last time he see saw her at the academy, and that was a bit of a worry. And what makes things worst, she was thinking she was talking with Batman and showing a desire to replace the actual Robin.

"No. I'm not Batman." Said the boy. "I'm… Damian."

"Oh! Hey Damian!" Said Maps with happiness. "Ignore what I said before! I guess you received my letter then!"

"I did. It's not like I get any letters so I got yours and…"

"Did you saw the drawings too?! What do you think about them?!" Asked Maps with excitement. "In my opinion, I think they all look great and are an accurate description of both of us!"

"...I do not agree with my description, at all. But I do admit that you look very childish."

There was a brief silence from Maps after what Damian said. Maybe she was very offended and now she would hang up the phone? The son of the Bat put into the loudspeaker mode so he could hear the conversation better, while Maps seemed to still be online.

"As I suspected, you're still the same _smug_ boy that I remember." Said the girl while trying to imitate Damian's voice but ending with a small laugh.

"Wait. Shouldn't you be mad with that comment I just said?" Asked Damian.

"Why should I?"

"…Forget about it." Said Damian. "I didn't know if it was a suitable time to make a call or something."

"At least you didn't call me during classes. Although, I would rather go out and answer than continue to pay attention to my science class, there is nothing that catches my attention there." Replied Maps with a boring yawn.

Damian forgot for a second that today the academy was having classes as any other house of studies. Being a boy raised by his relatives his whole life and not having gone to a school for a big while, made him felt in a certain way…privileged. This was because he felt that the educational centers did not contribute much and seemed more like prisons for the young people around his age. However, Damian knew that education was important and so he tried to make her realize that.

"Science is very important for every day. You may never know when you'll need it." Said Damian.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, billion dollar boy." Replied Maps while mocking him.

"I mean it. It's like that time I gave you…you know, " _that_ _thing_ " in case you went into some trouble and needed to defend yourself."

"What? Oh you mean the batarang? I still keep it!" Said Maps with emotion. "Can you believe that I've been practicing since you gave it to me? One time I met _Red Robin_ and I got so scared I throw it at him and almost got him!

"Really? I wished I was there to see that." Said the boy with a laugh.

It would have seemed incredible to Damian that Tim Drake, the previous Robin, was beaten by a simple batarang throw and especially launched by an untrained girl like Maps. The kid wished he had been there at the time and with camera in hand to later show everyone and make fun of Tim as he knew how to do it, but at least he felt that, right now, he was having a good time. So much that even the girl noticed the laughter in the call.

"Are you _laughing_ right now?" Asked Maps.

"What? _Me_? -tt- No…of course not." Damian replied next with a cough to hide the obvious.

"Yes _you did_ , Damian Wayne. I didn't think a kid like you could laugh."

"Why you say so?"

"Because I always imagined you to be like a super serious guy who never learned to laugh. How strange you are." Commented Maps with a laugh.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

More laughter from Maps was heard and that made Damian feel the need to hang up the phone in a fit of rage. She seemed to be taking too much advantage of the situation and he could no longer accept this kind of shame. Perhaps this attempt to have a friend was truly a waste of his time. When he was about to hang up, Damian heard the voice of Maps again returning to normal.

"I'm sorry, I'll stop laughing." Said Maps.

"-tt- You better. I have other important things to do than listen to a girl making fun of me." Replied Damian with a bit of anger.

"Really? Like what?"

"Well… _things_."

"But what sort of…things?" Said Maps with more curiosity.

"You know…Billionaire…things."

"You know, I've always wondered what the billionaires do with their lives: Do they bathe in pools with hundreds of dollars? Do they ask for expensive things brought from the other side of the world? Do they have thousands of cars?" Maps asked excited.

" _Is this girl really a fool or what?_ " Damian thought after hearing such a childish questions. But at least he could admit that she was very curious about things in general, something he could took advantage of so he could know her more and vice versa, it was a good idea by Damian. He decided to answer those questions that Maps had given.

"No. Sometimes. And for the last one, yes. My father likes to collect a lot of classic cars." Answered Damian with a bit of pride.

"And what about you? What sort of things do you like?" Asked Maps again.

"I like… _animals_."

"Really? That's cool! How many do you have?"

"I have a dog, a cat, a cow and also a…"

"You have a cow?!" Shouted Maps with surprise.

"Yes and don't ask me how I got it, but I do have one." Clarified Damian.

"Oh, the _mysterious_ boy does not want to explain to me how he got the animal. Someday I'll find it out." Maps said with determination.

"-tt- I doubt it."

"Well, changing the question to the mysterious boy, then: What sort of activities do you like to do?" Asked Maps again.

Damian was silent for a few minutes; he did not know what kind of answer he could give to her. Generally he liked to hang out with his pets, training in the gym as he had been doing a few hours ago and fighting any kind evil in the city. But he couldn't say this last one to her, it was very risky and maybe she would tell everyone his secret. He obviously decided to try to hide things and make things up.

"Well... I like to go out and help people whenever I can." Answered Damian.

"Really? You don't look like the kind of kid who does that sort of thing. I always thought you were the sort of kid who likes to do extreme sports or martial arts…not that I was spying on you that last time." Said Maps.

"And what do you like then, Miss Curiosity?" Damian asked like making a challenge to her.

"Excellent question!" Maps shouted with excitement. "I like mysteries, ghost, magic, adventures, making maps and one of my favorite's things: _Batman_!"

That last word did not seem to have surprised him at all. Since the last time he had seen her, he gave her the lucky batarang and she reacted as if she got best gift in the entire world. However, he decided to play along and continue talking about the protector of Gotham, while Maps told him everything she knew so far, the Wayne kid was somewhat impressed that she knew a lot of things about the secret identity of his father and even seemed... admirable.

"And why do you like Batman so much?" Asked him.

"I dunno I guess I just like the way he beats up the bad guys and the many items he has for every kind of situation! I would definitely die if I have his belt on my hands!" Confessed Maps happily.

"-tt- It's not that great once you get used to watch it many times."

"Wait. Do you usually see Batman?!" Asked Maps with shock.

"Uh…no. What I was trying to say is that one day, I saw him in action and he used almost all his gadgets. No big deal." Replied Damian a bit of nervous. "And…what do you think about _Robin_?"

"Robin? Well…"

The answer he hoped to hear from Maps was something like: " _Robin is the best thing that could ever happen to Batman and especially the last one he has right now_." Damian already imagined Maps saying how great he was, without knowing she was talking to the real boy wonder.

"I guess he's _ok_. He gets the job done." Said a joyful Maps.

"…You guess? -tt- Why?" Demanded Damian for an answer.

"Personally I think I would do better. I just ... don't have Batman's attention…yet."

"-tt- I doubt he would call you. A foolish girl like you doesn't have the skills to become Robin."

"Hey! Let me dream!" Shouted Maps with a laugh.

Damian laughed again while Maps admitted that her reaction was funny. In fact, the conversation had been so long and fun on both sides that they had not noticed that it was already night time, but the two young kids could talk more and more until one of them finally got tired, which seemed difficult because none of them wanted to end it. Suddenly, someone knocked at the door of Damian's room and then opened it, revealing that it was none other than his father, Bruce. His father noticed that his son was having a conversation over the phone and simply told him that it was time to " _go out_ ". Little Wayne understood the message; it was time to be Robin and fight criminals.

"Mia, I'll need to hang up now." Said Damian.

"Really? But we are having so much fun right now!"

"I have to help my father in some…family matters."

"I see! The mysterious boy has to follow in the footsteps of the father. Okay, I will not stop you. Will we be able to talk again?" Asked Maps.

"Well…only if _you_ want to."

"Great! Then just one more thing before you leave: Call me Maps from now on." Said the girl happily.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Meeting**

Sunday at the Academy. Usually a day for the students to rest and leave the daily routine that was between attending classes, having exams and in the case of Maps and her friends, solving mysteries. The center of studies gave its students the opportunity to go out and spend the day on the city of Gotham during the weekend.

Perhaps there was something interesting to find in the city today? Nobody would know. That's why Maps decided to try that out and left her room to approach Olive's bedroom, known by many as her best friend. She knocked on the door and got no answer, knocked again and yet nothing. The girl wondered what was going on and decided to open the door to finally seeing her friend looking thoughtful through the window. It seemed like one of those days where Olive just wanted to be alone with her feelings.

"Hey Olive! Wanna go to the city today?" Said Maps.

"…To be honest, I don't feel like it." Replied Olive while still looking at the window.

"You _sure_? I'm gonna ask Kyle and the others if they want to come, too. Come on! I know you'll like it!"

"Thank you, Maps. For real. But I think I'd better stay here to rest and just...think about stuff." Said Olive with a sight.

"Alright then, Olive. Take care of yourself then!" Said Maps with a bit of sadness before leaving her.

"You too, Maps."

Mizoguchi decided to turn to see her other friend, Pomeline, who was known within the group by her obsession with the things related with magic and mystic arts. Mia was just about to knock on the door when Pomeline suddenly open her door and walked out of the room, showing her typical expression of " _not in the mood_ " upon looking at Maps, as if she actually didn't wanted to see the girl obsessed with riddles and maps at this very moment. Pomeline acted like this with almost everyone on the outside, but deep inside her, she was actually a girl who cared for her friends.

"Don't you have anything interesting to do today aside from bothering me, Maps?" Asked Pomeline with a sight.

"As a matter of fact, _I do_. I'm going to the city right now! Wanna come?" Asked Maps with a cheerful smile.

"Sorry, hype girl. But I'm gonna pass on this one. Maybe next time." Replied Pomeline.

"Why?"

"Going to see someone right now."

"…You mean _Heathcliff_? Are you two back again?!" Asked Maps with excitement.

"None of your business, Maps! Now leave me or I'll be late." Said Pomeline with a little bit of stress before leaving.

"Tell him I say hi!" Shouted Maps.

Pomeline didn't even reply to her friend, she needed to do other important stuff somewhere else and leave the place, making Maps the only person in the corridor until she went out, looking for someone else and in this case, it was going to be her older brother Kyle.

She decided to take a look on the tennis courts since he was one of the main players of the academy, making him so popular, that a lot of girls of the place usually stayed for several hours just to see him in action. Indeed, Kyle was in fact practicing in a court; when the teacher suddenly decided to take a little break so the older Mizoguchi could rest. While he saw the girls, he was able to recognize his little sister, so he moved closer to her.

"Hey there, Mia. It's weird to see you around here." Said Kyle.

"Hey, Kyle. Are you going to be busy after this?" Asked Maps.

"Why you ask?"

"I'm going to the city to spend the day! Wanna come?"

"What about Olive?" Asked Kyle curiously.

"She is not coming. Not feeling good right now." Replied the younger Mizoguchi with a bit of sadness.

"I…think I'll just stay here… to keep an eye on her! Yeah, that!" Said Kyle with a bit of a blush on his face.

"Oh… _Sir Kyle: Olive's Shining Knight_. I like that!" Said Maps with a laugh. "I guess Colton is the only one I can count on, then. Any idea where he is?"

"I have no idea. He is probably wandering around here. Anyway, I gotta go. Have fun at the city and don't talk with strangers!" Said Kyle before going back to his training.

"I'm 14! Not a kid anymore!" Shouted Maps before leaving.

And so there was only one person left: Colton Rivera. A boy who, for most of the time, ended up getting into trouble but was always available to help his friends when needed. Colton had a talent for creating and fixing thousands of tools that were needed for any situation and that made him a very important member within the group. The younger Mizoguchi bet he would love to go to the city instead on staying here so she decided to look out for him around the campus.

Maps sought by all sides within the academy but without success, until she remembered something: Colton was punished all weekend and he probably was in the library, waiting for his punishment to be terminated. She went to the site to effectively find only to Colton with a teacher, both sitting and away while the student had an expression of extreme boredom while scribbling, or throwing paper planes all over the place.

"Colton!" Shouted Maps.

"Hey! Quiet! This is a library!" Replied the angry teacher.

" _Sorry_!" Whispered Maps while getting closer to her friend.

"Hey Maps." Said Colton. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for _you_ everywhere! I'm going to the city and I wanted to know if you were coming with me." Asked Maps.

"What about Kyle? Is he coming, too?" Asked the guy with sunglasses.

"Well, he said he was staying here for…"

"I'll pass. I better stay here anyway." Said Colton with a sight.

"Really? Oh come on! It will be fun! Just use one of your special gadgets and let's get out of here!" Shouted Maps.

"Miss Mizoguchi!" Demanded the teacher with anger. "If you want to keep talking with your " _criminal_ " friend, you can gladly join him as part of the detention!"

"Oh uh, you better leave now, you are going to get pretty bored in this place." Suggested Colton.

" _Why nobody wants to go out today!?_ " Maps thought with anger after seeing everybody already had plans or didn't want to go out with her to the city on a Sunday like this. The young student was getting desperate and she didn't want her weekend to end by staying all day alone at the academy. After thinking it for some minutes, Mizoguchi took a decision: She was going to the city on her own. The young student took her bag and a bit of money she had saved in her room, then went to the bus stop and upon appearing the first bus, she went in and sit down, watching through the window while the bus was on its way to the city of Gotham.

The city looked totally different during the day; as it seemed to be a bit friendlier than it was during the night. Maps was looking through the window of the bus, as she was approaching to the city and the buildings became increasingly larger, full of companies or businesses such as restaurants, shops or anything you would find in any city and that, make her feel excited about it. After several minutes of sitting on the public transport, the bus finally arrived to the station and announced that this was the last stop and all passengers needed to leave. Maps went out of the station with a smile, waiting for having a great day walking through the city.

Gotham was perhaps best known for being the city of Batman, but it also had its own charm without the need to mention the Dark Knight. Maps become so accustomed to this place, that she knew most of the streets of like the back of her hand. She knew what places had the best foods or entertainment stuff. But still, she felt like some kind of emptiness while doing this and mostly, very alone. It wasn't the same without the company of her friends.

It was then time for a snack, since her stomach started to tremble demanding food. Maps pulled out a few bills, bought herself a hotdog and started to wander on the streets, looking at the urban landscape while taking a few bites; until she noticed a large building in particular, one that at the very top had a letter: It was a letter " _W_ " and just down of it, two simple words saying " _Wayne Enterprises_ ". She recognized by then that the building belong to the billionaire known as Bruce Wayne and it one of the most well-known companies around the country, perhaps even the world.

Whenever Mizoguchi and her friends passed by the Wayne Tower, she wondered what was going on in that place: At first, she imagined probably full of scientists doing crazy experiments or entrepreneurs who always went there to talk about business or things related to that. She also though about if one day she was going to be able to enter the building, without anyone noticing her, as she did at the academy. Just thinking about it gave her laughter and continued with her route.

Just when she was passing by the Wayne Tower to watch it closely, Maps noticed that a black limousine approached slowly, until finally stopping at the main door of the building. The driver's seat then opened, showing a well-dressed man with an apparent mature age going to the back door and open it. Once opened, an adult of great look show up. Maps could recognize that man in an instant: it was none other than _Bruce Wayne_ himself.

Followed by him, there was a boy almost identical to Bruce, but showing an expression of annoyance, as if he didn't wanted to be on this very place. It was almost identical to his father in appearance as also on the style of clothes, that Mizoguchi could recognize this young one in a flash and with a certain joy: _Damian_. Just as Maps saw her new friend, she decided to call his attention and scream from afar, while the boy and his father entered the building next to the driver, who seemed to be not only the driver but as some sort of butler.

" _Damian_! Hey!" Screamed Maps from afar.

Damian and his father heard the call and turned at the same time to see Maps coming with an obvious emotion towards them. Bruce was surprised, but also felt that this would be a great opportunity to see how his son interacted with a person of his age. Damian, on the other hand, only acted cool and tried to give the girl a handshake but with an obvious sign of discomfort on his face. Right now this wasn't the best time to meet with someone like her and especially with his father right next to him.

"Hey Damian! It's good to finally seeing you after so long!" Said Maps with joy.

"Hello… _Miss_ Mizoguchi." Replied Damian like an adult.

"Miss? I already told you to call me "Maps", remember?" Said Maps. "Oh I almost forgot! Greetings to you, Mister Wayne! It's so weird to see you here and not on the Academy as I used to!"

"So you're the famous " _Maps_ ". Now I see why my son talks with you on the phone so much these days." Bruce said with a smile and gave her his hand. "Now that I remember, you are also friend of Miss Silverlock. It is a pleasure to know that Damian is making new friends, despite the fact that he was…expelled from the academy."

"The correct term is Olive's " _Best Friend_ " but yes, you really do have an eye for the details!" Clarified Maps with emotion.

"Maps…what are _you_ doing here?" Asked Damian while trying to change the subject.

"Oh, taking my day off and decided to go walk around the city!" Replied Maps proudly.

"-tt- With your friends? I don't see them around." Asked Damian again.

"Nope, just me and myself!" Said Maps with a smile.

"Alone?! In a dangerous place like this?!" Said Damian with a bit of worrying.

Bruce and Maps got surprised by the way Damian reacted. The kid looked very serious, as if he wanted that she didn't take the risk of having to come all the way by herself to a place as dangerous as Gotham. Maps on the other way simply took another bite of her food and then responded with total calm, completely opposite to Damian. Meanwhile Bruce noticed that his son was actually acting different as usual and specially around this girl.

"Hey, relax. It's not like I'm going here at night and suddenly see the Joker or Scarecrow…now that I think about it that would be pretty cool!" Said Maps.

"No, of course not." Replied Damian.

"And what are you doing here, then?" Asked Maps curiously.

"-tt- As future heir of my father's company, it is a priority of mine to see and understand how the world of businesses is. I'm just trying to follow my father's footsteps. You wouldn't understand." Replied Damian with some arrogance.

"Actually, son… now that I think about it: Why don't you just go with her and take the day off? I'm sure you can take her to a nice place and both of you can have fun." Interrupted Bruce with a confident smile.

"What?" Asked Damian in shock.

"Really?!" Asked Maps with excitement.

The thought of spending a whole day again with a childish girl such as Maps, make on Damian the need of having one of his swords on his hand and destroying any object or whatever was on his way, in a fit of frustration. But then, the kid saw the expression of his father, who seemed to be confident about it and it even looked as if he was giving him an order: _"Be normal and sociable around someone of your age_ ". After that, Damian saw the face of his friend and it was clear that she showed such an emotion like never seen before, perhaps this day was going to be pretty stressful for Damian, but for Maps it was going to be wonderful.

"-tt- Fine." Said Damian bothered.

"Alfred will keep you both some company. As for myself, I'll just stay here fixing some problems the company has right now." Commented Bruce.

"I would love to see what's inside someday, Mister Wayne!" Shouted Maps.

"… _Maybe_ one of these days, Miss Mizoguchi." Said Bruce with a smile. "Anyway, it was a pleasure to finally meeting you and I hope Damian takes good care of you today, have a great day." Said Bruce, before leaving everyone and entering the building.

"Your dad is pretty cool, Damian." Said Maps with joy.

"I am just as cool as he is." Replied the kid.

" _Pfff_ , show-off…" Said Maps with a smile.

"So… where would you like to go, then?" Asked Damian with not much interest.

"Well…the truth is…I'm still hungry. I feel like I could eat a whole pizza for myself!"

"I know a good place. We can go there right now." Suggested Damian.

"Is it very expensive? Because I only have ten bucks left!" Maps confessed.

Damian became silent for a few minutes upon hearing the girl's answer. By the look of it, she really was going to be a challenge for him, even if she wasn't a supervillain. The son of Bruce Wayne did a little sigh and then told her to follow him up to the limo, while the butler only smiled at the funny situation.

"-tt- Just for this once, I'll _invite_ you." Said Damian with a serious mood.

"Great! Can I choose the ingredients?!" Asked Maps.

"Yes."

"What about the pizza dough? Can I?" Asked the girl again.

"Yes…"

"And what about the drink?" Asked Maps once more.

"Would you please just shut up and enter the limo?!" Shouted Damian.

"This day keeps getting better and better!" Exclaimed Maps with such joy, that she threw what was left of the hotdog into Damian's jacket.

The suit Damian was wearing got stained by all the sauces that Maps had put in her snack and by the look on it, they were going to be a bit difficult to remove while cleaning it. But the kid, instead of raging out loud, just gave another sigh of disappointment as he entered the car while Maps started to apologize again and again. On the other hand, Alfred decided to turn on the limo, while trying to endure the small laughter at what he witnessed.

"Wow! I've never been in a limo _this_ big as this one!" Exclaimed Maps with excitement.

"My father and I have several of these. No big deal…" Said Damian with his typical arrogant tone.

"Seriously?! You must have thousands then!" Said Maps again.

"We only have four of these, Master Damian." Interrupted the butler with calm.

"-tt- Maps, let me introduce you to the person who just decided to interrupt me: This is _Alfred Pennyworth_ , he's been the personal butler of the Wayne family ever since my father was a child." Said Damian with education. "Pennyworth, this is Mia " _Maps_ " Mizoguchi and she is my…friend."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Mizoguchi." Greeted Alfred with a lot of respect while he was driving.

"Hello Mister Alfred!" Greeted Maps.

"Please, just call me by my name."

"Take us to the best pizza restaurant of the city, Pennyworth." Ordered Damian with a snap of his fingers.

Just as he gave the order, Alfred sped up the vehicle and passed other cars between different lanes of the track with such a great accuracy and management. Maps was amazed of how easily the butler could drive, despite his advanced age and unlike other people. It was then that she started to look on Damian, who didn't seem to be as amazed as she was. He was sitting on one of the seats and looking through one of the windows with such a calm look on his eyes. The student was thinking as she watched him with determination: " _What kind of things will amaze the son of Bruce Wayne?_ " Perhaps sooner or later she would discover that but for now, Damian noticed the look of Maps and he began to feel uncomfortable.

"You are quiet." Said Damian.

"What? I'm sorry?" Replied Maps. "I was?"

"Yes. And it was weird."

"Is just that I'm surprised of how good driver Alfred is and you don't seem to be astonished at all!" Said Maps.

"It's all because ofto the experience of serving the Wayne family for many years, Ms. Mizoguchi." Alfred said with a smile.

"And I thought that Kyle was a decent teacher…" Maps said.

"Kyle?" Damian asked.

"Y'know…my brother. The one who attacked us because he was under the spell of the quill and you knocked him out…" Maps answered with a bit of still resentment.

"Oh yeah…I remember that. That was fun." Damian said with a cocky smile.

"It's not funny when you hit your brother…" Said Maps with anger.

"I disagree." Damian replied once again with arrogance. "But anyway, you said he taught you to drive?"

"Yeah and it was…embarrassing. I had to use a golf cart while he taught me some stuff. Honestly he better as a tennis player than a teacher…" Maps confirmed with a laugh.

Damian stood silent for a moment upon hearing this last minute information. Was he supposed to make fun of her? Her older brother? Or perhaps both? He would probably pick the last choice by hearing something as stupid as driving a vehicle like that, but the kid decided to remain silent. Damian wanted tell his friend that he could drive a motorcycle, the bat-plane and even the bat-mobile with total ease but only when it was necessary. He knew that Maps couldn't process all that information, let alone know that secret. Damian decided to simply follow the conversation, but also without leaving aside his pride.

"I'm…also learning how to drive." Damian said.

"Vehicle?" Maps Asked.

"That and also a motorcycle…" Damian replied.

"That's so awesome, Damian! Maybe you can teach me then!" Said Maps with excitement.

"-tt- If you do everything I say, fine." Damian agreed.

"I, Maps Mizoguchi, promise that I won't do anything foolish and also obey everything my expert teacher says!" Maps promised with seriousness.

"I beg your pardon, Master Damian…but I think your father wouldn't agree on this kind of situation, also considering the fact that you are " _learning_ " those things, too. If I may, I could help Miss Mizoguchi by giving her some driving lessons." Alfred interrupted with such calm.

"-tt- Fine, do what you like, Pennyworth. But she will become your responsibility if something bad happens." Said Damian with a bit of a bother.

"I understand. Oh, here we are!" Alfred announced.

Maps stick her face into one of the limousine windows to see what kind of place they had arrived: It was a hotel with skyscrapers so high, that it was almost impossible to say how many floors it had in total. Alfred turned off the engine of the car to suddenly open a door and let the two children out. Damian was coming down quietly and trying to look very formal, while Maps was just the complete opposite, unable to contain all kind of emotion.

As they walked towards the entrance, Pennyworth just followed the teenagers a few steps back until the three of them took an elevator that would take them to one of the highest floors of the building. Finally arriving to their destination, the elevator doors opened and showed an elegant and modern restaurant with lots of tables completely clean and with all the details typical of an exclusive restaurant. Mizoguchi was losing her mind, getting excited about the lights and the atmosphere of the site, while Damian only approached to one of the waiters and told him he wanted a table for two and immediately the other employees were making the best table. Meanwhile, Alfred just stood still near the main door of the restaurant, thinking that this would be a great opportunity for the young lad to spend some time with his new friend. The butler decided to take a step forward and talked with Damian, while Maps was near and listening to the conversation.

"Master Damian, I'll be at the door waiting till you both finish with your food. If you need me, just call me and I'll be right there." Alfred announced with calm.

"Alright, this won't take long." Damian replied.

"What? No! Alfred should join us too!" Maps shouted.

" _Why?_ " Damian asked with wonder.

"Because…he is a nice person and I don't want him to be all alone! Besides, I want to know more about your family!" Maps explained.

"Alfred is just…my butler." Damian answered with seriousness.

"He is! But he also raised your father during his whole life, right? That technically makes him part of your family, too! I bet there are some fun and interesting stories about it!" Maps explained her reasons.

Damian thought for a few moments and started to look at Maps, who looked innocent as if she desperately was asking for that simple request. Then, he looked at Alfred, who was somewhat surprised at what Maps wanted and gave an expression as if he didn't mind accompanying them at all. The boy only gave a look of discomfort but then made a decision.

"-tt- What do you say, Pennyworth? You join us?" Damian asked.

"It will be my pleasure." Alfred smiled.

The butler and the kids sat at a table and each one of them had ordered a pizza of their liking. As they waited for the food to arrive, Maps started to ask Alfred and Damian all kinds of questions while each one of the guys said an interesting or funny answer, which made the girl felt like she wasn't having just a regular Sunday but Great Sunday. Once the pizzas arrived, the conversation didn't stop just there and they continued with the talk.

"How is Damian according to you, Alfred?" Maps asked with curiosity, while taking a bite of her pizza.

"Well I must admit, Damian is the living image of his father. It reminds me the times when I took care of Master Bruce when he was a child and he got into lot of troubles." Alfred replied with a smile.

"That was probably during the time dinosaurs existed." Damian said with a bit of a laugh.

"May I remind you, Master Damian, that I'm not that old and I also taught your father a few fighting lessons back in those days." Alfred commented.

"You know how to fight?!" Maps asked with surprise.

"Do I? Miss Mizoguchi, before serving the Wayne family I was a member of the Special Air Service and also a member of the UK Intelligence Service with honors!" Alfred informed.

"That's so amazing! But don't you kind of regret leaving all of that? You know the action and that kind of stuff?" Maps asked.

Alfred thought for a moment in silence while he poured himself some food on his plate. Damian didn't say anything, hoping to hear what his butler was going to say about whether he had any regrets about leaving that kind of life. However, both teenagers noticed that Pennyworth gave a small smile and then responded to Maps with all the honesty that only Damian and the Wayne family knew.

"I do admit that I had some unforgettable moments in there and was also present in some great fights. But when I came to serve the Wayne family, I realized that I made one of the most important decisions of my life so far. And when the young Master Bruce needed me most during his most difficult time, I was there and so far I still do." Alfred replied with such calm while thinking of all the stuff that happened.

"…His most difficult time?" Maps asked wondering.

"He means the day my grandparents died. My father was an orphan from an early age." Damian said with seriousness.

Maps stood frozen upon hearing that information. She remembered to hear a bit about that incident and it was not surprise, everyone in Gotham knew about that unfortunate event since the Waynes were one of the richest and most famous families in the city of Gotham for their contributions to the community and business success. Bruce was only a little child when he saw, in his own eyes, how his parents were killed by a common thief who just wanted to steal some money and his mother's pearl necklace. That moment would mark Bruce forever, making him a vigilante in search of criminals and one of the most well-known superheroes on the planet, but that was another story, one that few people knew about.

"I…think I shouldn't have asked." Maps confessed with a lot of worry.

"Don't worry about that, Miss Mizoguchi. That's all in the past now." Alfred said.

Maps felt that she was bothering Damian with that kind of subject, considering that he was inviting her to the pizza and at the same time accompanying her on this day. Maybe it was time to change the subject for a more entertaining one.

"I bet you have some funny stories, Alfred! Tell me a few of them and if Damian is involved, the better!" Maps begged with a smile.

"Well…now that you mention it, there are a few ones: One day Master Damian and I played chess and I beat him three times in a row. He ended up almost destroying everything on his path. After that, his father punished him for all the mess." Alfred laughed with this confession.

"-tt- I'm still waiting for my revenge, old man." Damian replied while looking somewhere else.

"…And then there was the time I gave him a cat. Upon looking at it, he adopted it and called him by my name. Sometimes the cat sleeps with him on his bed." Alfred commented with another laugh.

"That last part was not _necessary_ to mention, Pennyworth." Damian said with a little bit of shame.

Maps was laughing at everything she was listening to, all these things changed the image she had of Damian completely: He was no longer the smug boy who always flattered to be just as great as his father or who could do martial arts as if it were the most normal thing in the world; now there was also the image of a boy who resented at things in such a childish way, such as losing a board game, to be someone very affectionate with animals. Maps started to like his new friend more with all of this; he seemed an interesting guy but above all, a great person once you knew him more.

The girl's laughter was contagious and Damian could not help himself until a certain moment that he too began to laugh at just remembering those anecdotes mentioned by his butler. Luckily the restaurant was empty and there was no one to interrupt two youngsters and a butler passing a moment of calm and fun. For Damian, this was a pleasant moment, it wasn't like his moments of meditation or where he spent a moment with his brothers, he was a different one, but he sure liked it.

The day was ending and Maps knew what that meant: She had to go back to the Academy or she would receive a punishment for being late. Damian and Alfred then decided to help her with that and they took her in the limo, while they continued talking and having such a great time. Once they reached into the front door of the study center, Maps said goodbye to the butler who was in the driver's seat.

"Bye Alfred! I had a _lot_ of fun today!" Maps shouted with joy.

"Likewise, Miss Mizoguchi. I hope we can meet you again soon." Alfred replied with happiness and with the same calm as he always did.

Meanwhile, Damian opened the door and went out, followed by Maps while Alfred watched everything carefully from the driver's seat. This was a moment that the butler didn't want to miss at all.

"Well, here we are. This boring prison you call " _Academy_ ". Damian said with bad memories of it.

"It's not that boring once you get used to!" Maps replied with a smile.

"…What do you think of it?" Damian asked.

"What do you mean?" Maps asked.

"-tt- You _do_ know what I mean: The restaurant, the stories with certain falsehoods that Pennyworth told and the ... pizza." Damian explained while looking somewhere else.

"Oh! It was great! The best pizza I ever had!" Maps said with satisfaction.

"Excellent. Then we can confirm that your day wasn't as boring as you thought." Damian said.

"What's wrong? Got worried about trying to _impress_ me?" Maps asked in mocking tone.

"-tt- Child, do not make me regret all this time I spent." Damian replied with seriousness.

"Relax rich-boy. It was an awesome day!" Maps commented with joy.

"Good, then take this: There were some pizzas slices left, so I took a chance to tell the restaurant to put them into a box for you to keep." Damian said while giving her a pizza box.

"Once again you make the day much better! Thanks you, Damian! Let's see each other another day or more often!" She shouted while leaving.

"…I guess so." The kid said.

Now that Maps entered the Academy without any sort of problem, Damian watched quietly as his friend left and then he climbed back into the limo. Alfred lit the vehicle and decided to continue with their journey. The butler was proud of the boy: It seemed that the young Damian was, indeed, maturing and becoming a little more... _human_. The rich kid just stared at the window all quietly as the vehicle moved.

"Let's go home, Pennyworth." Damian said.

"As you wish, Master Damian." Alfred obeyed.

"…You want to tell me something by your look. Go ahead." Damian demanded.

"You know, Miss Mizoguchi was a very entertaining girl." Alfred commented.

"She has potential to be my _friend_ …yes." The kid said.

"You could say that both of you looked like… a very lovely couple." Alfred said with some insinuation.

"-tt- I'll ignore that comment, Pennyworth. As soon as we reach home, I'm going to patrol on the streets." Damian said with some anger.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: I didn't mean to**

The night was about to begin at Gotham city. The criminals were getting ready to carry out their attacks to different objectives such as banks, stores or any place that had any sort of value, without caring to leave wounded or dead in their path in order to only obtain what they wanted. On the other hand, the police department tried to stop them in all possible ways even though they did not have enough units to control the whole situation. It was in these cases that the commissioner of the Police Department, James Gordon, activated the famous bat-signal on the rooftop of the GCPD so can the dark knight, alongside with his boy-wonder, appear to help.

Gordon informed to the masked heroes about a recent discovery, thanks to his intelligence division: In one of the many warehouses near the docks of the city, a meeting of several dangerous mafias was going to start soon, where the top leaders of each group were going to possibly create new alliances or do arm dealings and drug trafficking to each other. For Batman, it was enough information, he recommended to the commissioner to simply wait for his signal. Gordon already knew the procedure of his masked allies and quickly ordered the special units to prepare near the site. On the other hand, Batman and Robin decided to move to the meeting point using the bat-mobile that would take them in a matter of minutes at great speed. Once outside, father and son decided to make the plan to enter using some designs of the warehouse structures.

"We have to enter cautiously." Ordered Batman.

"-tt- This is way too easy for us, father. We could leave this to Gordon and the cops. We should be searching for higher threats such as Joker or Scarecrow…"

"Gordon is good at his job, but this is a great opportunity to end these gangs once and for all. And we cannot pass something like this. Understand?"

"…Yes, sir." Obeyed Robin with a bit of a grunt.

"I will enter through the west side of the warehouse." Batman ordered while pointing a sketch map of the zone. "Robin, I need you to enter without being detected by the south side."

"Have I ever disappointed you, father?"

"There is always a first time."

Damian didn't take his father's response with pleasure. He knew that Bruce could be very demanding in several things and much more while being Batman, but in spite of that, there was great respect for him and he obeyed his father's orders. To entering places like this at night, it was a piece of cake for the younger Wayne, this was due to the training done by his grandfather and the League of Assassins, which were real challenges; compared to a site like this full of petty criminals. Robin entered through a window and hid in the shadows, knocking out some guards who were watching every possible perimeter. Through his communicator, he listened to Batman enter by his side and doing the same strategy as his son, now there was only waiting for everyone to arrive.

On the other side of the city; a girl was in her bedroom inside the prestigious Gotham Academy, sleeping deeply while dreaming of something she wanted more than anything else in life: She was watching from the top of a building with special binoculars some criminals guarding entire floors. She knew that at last, the day she so desired had arrived, Batman had finally realized her abilities and intentions of wanting to be the new partner and today she could proudly be called "Robin". She already had her own suit ready with the logo of the boy wonder and to look better, Maps was wearing some safety glasses that helped her to give a more personal touch to his secret identity. The adrenaline was running all over her body and she kept jumping everywhere while Batman was observing her with great calm, he had to calm her down.

"Ready for action, Robin?" Asked Batman.

"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh, this is so exciting!" Screamed the girl with full happiness.

"Mia! I'm talking to you!"

"Oh, shoot! I-I'm sorry Batman buddy, partner, comrade!"

"Just stay alert, Robin." Said Batman with a serious tone. "We are going to attack the Riddler anytime soon."

"That Riddler guy always with his easy riddles! Can't he just stop being so lame?" Asked Maps while making some fist bumps.

"While your ability to solve riddles are amazing, you have to be careful. He's still a very dangerous guy."

After that comment, Batman pulled one of his famous hooks from his utility belt to shoot at the nearest building, which was the one where those criminals were apparently working on the next deadly puzzle from the expert villain. Maps, with great confidence, did the exact same thing as his mentor and launched her hook, ready for the jump.

"On my call."

"Understood!"

"…Now!" Batman shouted following by a jump.

Each one of them clung to their cables and while they were still in the air, they could see the whole city shining with its lights on, it was indeed a beautiful and great view for Maps. However, something started to go wrong, the " _Girl-Wonder_ " felt that minute by minute, she was going downstairs and to make things worse, the speed of the fall was accelerating. Maps began to scream totally scared to see that there was no time to hold onto something nor using another utility. Her first day as Robin was going to be her last. Maps closed his eyes and felt her body hit the floor, although it did not hurt so much as she expected. She opened her eyes to later realize that everything that happened had been just a simple dream and she was in her bedroom at the Gotham Academy the whole time.

Everything felt so real: The view of the city, the suit and the feel of the air running down her face as she traveled with none other than Batman at her side. Maps was one hundred percent sure of something after all of this: It was the best dream she had had in a good while, despite having a somewhat tragic end. She needed to tell someone, perhaps her friends Olive or Pomeline, who were closer to her room. However, she noticed the clock, indicating that it was two o'clock in the evening, probably her best friends were resting and it was best to tell them the next day. Even so, she needed to tell someone so she could not lose the emotion, but she did not know who until she saw her cell phone for a moment. Maps came up with a great idea, which was to call her new millionaire friend, that was probably awake at this time of night with nothing else to do aside of being a rich kid.

Meanwhile, Batman and Robin had been waiting for some time in the darkness and in silence until the big warehouse doors opened. A few luxurious cars, accompanied by other cars not so expensive with armor and armed men, parked in different places. Every one of the thugs began to prepare the meeting while taking out several boxes and briefcases which contained weapons, drugs and money: It was business time apparently. On the other hand, Batman spoke to his son in a low voice through the communicator.

"How many do you see?" Batman asked.

"Fifty: All armed except the leaders."

"Leaders always carry hidden weapons; they only use it in the worst case scenarios."

"-tt- I already knew that." Said Robin confident. "The faster we finish; the better we can continue the patrolling."

The leaders were ready to talk about their businesses while the guards only watched or walked through different parts of the store. Batman was ready to move in the shadows till he got away from his partner to attack at a certain point, it was all ready and just waiting for the signal of the dark knight. Damian on the other hand was confident, he was tired of waiting and wanted to get rid of those criminals to look for a better challenge tonight. It was then that, before his father gave the signal, something sounded from his belt and seemed to be a kind of musical tone. A phone tone.

"Heard that? What the hell?" Asked a thug.

"I don't know, go take a look!" Replied a nervous superior while getting his gun ready.

This took everyone by surprise, especially the heroes. Robin did not think that anyone could call him on his phone at this time of night, but the worst part was that all of this was happening right in front of his father's eyes, who did not take his son's action very lightly and only decided to continue with the plan.

"Now Robin!" Ordered Batman.

"Ambush!" Shouted a thug before getting knocked.

"It's the Bat!" Screamed one of the leaders while running to his car.

Both heroes then began a fight with all the criminals around the place. The frightened guards fired with their weapons everywhere, but without any success, failing due to the great acrobatics and reflexes that made both father and son to dodge the bullets. This gave the heroes time to knock them out using their fists, kicks or batarangs while some just gave up knowing full well they could not do anything. Several leaders were faster and took their cars to escape in a blast. Despite the loud fight, Robin could still hear the tone of his phone ringing, causing him to get stressed and thinking about who the hell was this person who kept calling him in a situation like this. Once finished with the last criminals standing, Batman called the bat-mobile with a command of his belt and the vehicle appeared quickly opening its doors. The caped crusader entered the car while Robin approached to sit at the co-pilot until his father stopped him.

"You stay here until the police arrives." Ordered Batman.

"What? Why?" Asked the boy-wonder.

"I'm going to catch the ones who escaped."

"But you need me!"

"What I need is you to stay here until Gordon and his men take these criminals. It's the least you can do after revealing your location to the enemy." Batman said with a clear annoyance and look.

"It's not my fault someone calls me at this time of the night!" Robin explained easily annoyed.

"Just do what I told you. We'll talk about this later." Batman finished before the doors closed and started to move.

"-tt- Damn."

After some minutes, the police had arrived on the scene with Gordon to arrest and take each one of the criminals to the prison of the police department. Damian did not see any other reason to stay in that place, so he left by climbing the emergency stairs of some buildings and once at the top, he began to use his personal hook to go through different skyscrapers, till reaching an area where he felt no one would interrupt him. The Wayne kid was clearly angry, not only for almost letting himself be found in front of a few simple guards, but also for having been left aside by none other than his father, who had shown obvious disappointment at that mistake. But what stressed him most was the fact that the same phone was still ringing again and again. Damian took the phone to finally answer and know who was the person who kept calling until he saw the name and was surprised: Maps. The boy tried to endure the anger and decided to answer his friend.

"Maps?" Asked Damian.

"About time you finally answer!"

"Do you even realize what time is it? You should be sleeping!"

"I was! But then I had the best…dream…ever! And I wanted to tell to someone about it and that's why I decided to call you!" Maps explained with a lot of joy.

"Dream? Are you only calling me at this time of the night to tell me about a meaningless dream?!" Damian asked in an annoyed tone.

"You don't understand! It was the best dream of all!" Maps said excited. "I dreamed that I was Robin and Batman was right next to me on the top of a building and we were going to catch the Riddler who had put explosives in a building and while we were heading towards his henchmen my hook broke and I was starting to fall and…!"

Damian could not believe it. Her friend had called him to tell of a silly, childish dream that even at a certain moment, now that he thought about it, was something predictable coming from her. Was this really the reason why the plan he and his father had made a few hours ago almost failed? And was this the reason why his father showed disappointment towards him? To his own son? The Wayne kid had enough of it, he decided to do something about it and decided to interrupted her abruptly.

"Are you serious? I hope you're kidding because I hate jokes." Said Damian.

"Not really! It was great! It felt so real and I would do anything to be Robin and live something like that!" Maps commented with enthusiasm.

"-tt- You don't understand. Do you, Maps? You just told me the stupidest dream I've ever heard in my life. Do you think being Robin is fun? It's not. Do you really think that Batman would take as a partner a girl so childish, so deluded, without physical and mental training and that only gets into trouble? Well let me tell you no, he would not. Not in a million years." Damian commented with annoyance.

There was a cold and deadly silence afterwards. None of them had said a word after what Damian replied with such words, until he could hear something on his phone that came from the other person, they were not words or anything like that. It seemed to sound like someone was about to start a cry. Damian was frozen a few minutes until he realized what was happening just now: Maps was crying and it was because of what he had said. The Wayne kid had literally destroyed the illusions of this girl in the worst possible way and decided to talk to her again, after all, she was his friend no matter how many faults she had.

"Maps?" Asked Damian with a heavy sight. "Listen…I…look let me explain it to you I…"

"You're a great idiot, Damian Wayne!" Maps shouted with anger before hanging up the phone.

"Hello? Maps? Are you there?" Asked Damian before realizing she wasn't. "-tt- Silly girl…"

It had been a few hours since then and Robin had returned home on his own. The bat-cave seemed quiet as always: Alfred welcomed him as he usually did in an educated manner and offered him a bottle of water to cool off after a hard night in fighting with criminals. Damian reluctantly accepted the drink as he prepared to remove his mask and a bit of his hero's outfit. On the other hand, the boy could notice that his father had already arrived and was busy in the main computer, apparently registering new activities of criminals that he was going to stop shortly afterwards.

"You are back." Said Bruce without looking at him and focusing more on the computer.

"Yes sir."

"And? Do you have anything to say about what happened there?"

"Father, I want to apologize for that interruption earlier before that almost cost us the mission. I didn't think someone would call me so late. It was foolish of me to let that happen, I know. But at least I took care of it." Commented Damian with reason.

"That will not happen again. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

"Good. Go head to your bedroom and get some rest."

Once in his room and with more comfortable clothes, the son of the bat was lying on his bed, unable to sleep. Something was still bothering him but not as much as before, as if it had diminished, but he could not find an answer to it, he tried to change position again and again to rest but without success, until in a moment, while he changed places, saw his phone again, remained staring it for several minutes wondering if this was due to what he replied to Maps. He took it and started looking for her name so he could call her and talk calmly, he was about to do it, but then he felt that it would be a hard blow to his pride, and Damian Wayne was a very proud person of himself.

"-tt- I don't understand why this affects her so much, it was a ridiculous dream anyway." Said Damian before putting the phone back in its place and finally closing his eyes.

The days passed by and Damian continued his life as he did every day: He took his pets for a walk at the morning, trained hard for several hours, studied different subjects such as science, history, language, literature, etc. and during his free time, when he could, took advantage to bother his brothers. And although this put him in a good mood for a while, it disappeared and he began to feel that something was missing, until realizing what was going on: Maps wasn't calling on his phone as she usually did. He was already getting used to having long phone conversations with her at times like these, but since the incident, she no longer called him at all. Was she still upset? He decided to try something: Call and chat with her as if nothing bad had happened.

The phone rang yet no response from her. The young Wayne was confused: Usually someone would answer a call from someone as important as him, but this wasn't the case. He tried again and again but without any success. Damian was getting stressed with each call rejected by her to such an extent that he didn't know what to do about it. However, this could wait for another time, the night was approaching and it was time to work with his father by his side. The days became almost weeks and Maps didn't respond despite Damian's constant calls.

Meanwhile, Bruce realized that his son started to acted quite differently when it came to fighting criminals during the last couple of days: More aggressive and without measuring the necessary force, less concentration when coordinating an attack plan among other things, all of this was worrying him about, so he decided to give him a talk of father and son once they returned to the bat-cave. Upon entering the secret base and getting out of the bat-mobile, Damian simply took off his mask and started to walk away.

"I'll head to my room if you don't need me, father." Said Damian.

"Actually, I want to talk to you about something I've been noticing on you." Replied Bruce while taking his mask off.

"If you want to talk about that time I almost broke that thug's arm, I'm sorry, but he was looking for it."

"It's not about that, Damian. I've noticed you've been acting differently these days ever since that time someone called you at the docks. And it's not just me: Alfred and the others have realized this and we want to help you."

"-tt- It was something that already happened. Ok? End of the story." Replied Damian with some annoyance.

"You know you can trust me. You may be my partner on the battlefield like Robin and have great qualities to be a great successor, but first of all, you are my son and I want the best for you." Said Bruce sincerely. "I hope that this can change your mind and tell me what's going on."

"…Do you promise not to tell Alfred this? Asked Damian without looking at him.

"Yes."

"Neither to the others. Especially Todd or Drake. I don't want them to know about what I'm going to tell you.

"You can count on me."

Damian got close to his father and embrace him for a brief moment, gave a little sigh and then began to tell him everything that had happened between him and her friend Maps. He told him all the details including the dream her friend had, his response to it and even the moments where he had called her but without any response from her. All this made Bruce, from his point of view, think that his son was changing: He was not as presumptuous as before and seemed to be worrying more about the people around him. Indeed, Damian was maturing and that made him proud.

"So this is all about your friend Mizoguchi." Said Bruce with a smile. "Why don't you just go to her and apologize then?"

"Me?" Asked Damian surprised. "No. I absolutely refuse to do something as low as that!"

"There is nothing wrong with apologizing for a mistake. At your age I also made foolish mistakes and Alfred always told me that apologizing helped."

"... It's not that I don't really want to. I really tried to call her, but she just doesn't."

"You will never know if you try." Commented Bruce. "I say you should go to her and speak with sincerity."

"But with all of this… I don't think she wants to see me." Replied Damian.

"Who says Damian Wayne has to go?" Said Bruce with a confident smile.

It was a full moon night with a deep quiet at the Gotham Academy, everyone was resting and there was no sign of life outside the place, except for a room that had its lamp light on. Inside of it was a girl looking at her cell phone for several minutes with sadness and for some moments, a great annoyance. The phone indicated that a certain boy had been calling her several times during the last days at different times, but she knew that person and as soon as she thought about him there was a certain disgust: He was a boy who did not value his friends and said the most horrible things that could ruin any situation. What was she thinking about being friends with such a pessimistic boy? However, despite all of that, she missed talking to him about anything or especially annoying him and seeing his smug expression. For a brief moment she wanted to dial Damian's number but she was afraid, she thought maybe he had given up hope and didn't want to know anything about her either. That make her worried even more.

Unexpectedly, a little sound was heard through the window and got her attention. It seemed as if someone or something was throwing what appeared to be small stones to attract the attention of the girl obsessed with maps and mysteries. Mia decided to see what caused those noises with her flashlight and opened the window carefully to finally see that downstairs, there was a boy that she knew perfectly and just by seeing him, she got a great emotion.

"R-Robin! It's Robin!" Yelled Maps with excitement.

"Silence, Mizoguchi!" Alerted Robin in a low voice. "Do you want everyone to find out that I'm here or what?"

"Now that you mention it, that would be really cool! What are you doing here, anyway? Is there a villain around the Academy?" Asked Maps while looking anywhere with her flashlight.

"No. It's just that I... was passing by here and I needed ... to talk to you."

"With me? Is this some kind of a ultra-secret mission!?"

"-tt- Of course, no ... wait ... yes. It is!" Robin replied. "But I need you to come down! Look, I'm going to throw a hook so you can hold yourself and..."

"Shaaaa!" Maps shouted while jumping from her window.

The Boy-Wonder did not think someone was foolish enough to jump from that distance, but she was the exception. Maps was falling rapidly with emotion, causing the hero hurry up and run to the exact spot where she would fall and to finally catch her successfully. By the look of this, it seemed like one of those classic scenes of the lady in danger that fell to be rescued by the hero.

"Wow, you're fast!" Maps indicated while still being hold. "And strong enough for your size!"

"Are you mad, child!? You could almost have got yourself hurt for doing that or even worse! Wait a second: What was that last thing you said?"

"But nothing bad happened, right? I knew you were going to catch me anyway, you're Robin after all." Said Maps with a confident laugh.

"…If you do that again, do not think I'm going to save you." Robin warned.

"Whatever you say, Boy-wonder. Where are we going then?"

"-tt- Just follow me and you'll see."

Robin was walking on the front while Maps followed him back completely enthusiastic, she thought that this was a new dream so she gave herself little blows to wake up from this situation but the only thing she felt was bit of hurt, meaning that this was all real and she couldn't believe it. Finally, both had arrived at the main door of the academy to show none other than Robin's personal motorcycle parked. Him, on the other hand, took out a helmet and passed it to the girl with total normality while she was completely confused.

"What are you doing?" Asked Maps.

"Put it on, we'll go to a place."

"Are we going to the hideout of the villain?!"

"No."

"Are we… going to the bat-cave!?" Asked Maps again with happiness.

"No…"

"Are we going to…"

"Just put that helmet on already, Mizoguchi!" Robin replied trying to control himself.

"Yes, sir!" Maps obeyed.

Once they were both in the motorcycle, Robin started to turn on the vehicle while Maps held on to the back-seat, still with the same emotion from the very start. However, upon entering at high speed, she had to hold on to something stronger so the girl hugged Robin without thinking twice. The boy kept focusing in the road, ignoring what her companion just did and continued to follow his unknown path through different tracks and lanes to reach what seemed to be a forest area completely elevated. It was an area where very few people knew and very difficult to reach, but the reward was worth every bit of it: Just reaching the top of a hill you could see most of the city in a magnificent view with the lights on during the night. Maps got off the motorcycle, took the helmet off and see the landscape being completely amazed by it.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Yelled Maps. "It's the first time I see Gotham with such a view. I love it! But what about the mission?"

"There is no mission, Mizoguchi." Said Robin as if it was the most obvious statement.

"What?! For real?! Oh crap!" Maps shouted in disappointment. "But then... why did you bring me here?"

"Well...you see... I was asked by someone to give you a message."

"Batman?! Has he decided to finally recruit me?!"

"No! Of course it's not Batman!" Shouted Robin stressed and then took a deep breath to relax. "I'm coming in the name of Damian... Damian Wayne."

"Oh." Replied her sharply.

That reaction on Maps did not sound very pleasant to Damian as he heard it, also clearly seen in her face of displeasure. The happiness and emotion that she had disappeared by one of disgust as well as annoyance, while she stood with her arms folded and turning her back to look towards the illuminated city. Robin did not know what to say back then, thinking that maybe the only thing he could do for now was wait for his friend to say something.

"So the billionaire boy did not have the guts to see me." Said Maps annoyed and giving a sigh of disappointment.

"He... believed that if he came to see you personally, you would not want to see him face to face."

"Maybe so, yes. But that doesn't mean the fact he had the courage to come and visit me. Instead, he decides to pay the boy-wonder to represent him."

"Mizoguchi." Commented Robin. "Damian didn't pay me anything at all. He is ... we are close friends."

"Friends? Then answer me this if you say that you are his friend: Does he say discouraging things to you as he did to me? I considered him my friend, but friends don't say horrible things. They don't ruin the illusions of the other with such cold and horrible words."

Maps tried her best not to show it on her face, but the annoyance was becoming sadness combined with her tone of voice while she still remained with crossed arms. Damian knew that it was now time to tell things clearly and see if this could fix the problem or go back to how things were before.

"Listen, Mizoguchi..." Said Robin before giving a sigh of annoyance. "Damian said those things because he... sometimes does not understand the feelings of the people around him and tends to stress easily. He… didn't have a very nice childhood compared with other kids and that made him have very few friends so far. And… he is not as bad as you think: He may be great, intelligent, an exemplary son and very proud of himself, but right now... right now he does not want to lose his friend and is learning to value more his friendship with her. That's what he wanted to tell you face to face, but he couldn't due to fear of being rejected. He really feels very bad for what he has done and wants to talk to you again."

The adventurous girl remained silent staring at the city for a few moments until she decided to look at Robin, face to face. Her expression showed a smile not of fun, but rather of happiness. As if she really understood that Damian really cared about her. After all, both were good friends and he showed on his part that he wanted to go back to how things were before but above all of those, he had learned the lesson.

"Who would know? The billionaire kid has a sensitive side after all." Said Maps with a small and tender laugh.

"-tt- I'm just saying what I... he wanted to tell you." Answered Robin looking away to another side.

"It's okay. You convinced me or in any case... he did."

"Really?" Asked him curiously.

"Of course, although he will have to change his attitude. Nothing that the good Maps Mizoguchi can fix."

"You can try." Challenged him with a defiant smile.

There was a moment of silence on both sides. The strong wind made the bushes and trees around making noises while the city was heard in the background. In some way, all of this made the environment smooth and calm changing the moment of tension that was until recently. Maps looked thoughtful for a few seconds at his companion in silence as he looked at the city as if he were watching it, something he inherited from his father.

"Hey, Robin." Said Maps.

"Yes?" Asked the Boy-wonder while leaving his concentration in the city.

"Thank you."

"Why? I just did my job."

"No, you silly. Your _real_ job is to protect the city." She stated with a laugh. "…Not helping a foolish child not to lose his friend. But now that I think about it: To see Damian does something like this for someone... is cute."

That last sentence Mia had said, made Robin realize something strange until then: She seemed different. It showed a more sensitive side, completely opposed to that joking personality and passionate about the adventure that usually showed around everyone, making him also realize that she, with the moonlight falling on her face, was really seen as another person and even from the boy's point of view, pretty. Damian blushed a little and without thinking he said something in a low voice.

"Pretty." Said Robin in a low tone.

"What did you just said?" Asked Maps curious.

"I said pretty moon! Yeah that!"

"Oh! Yeah, it sure looks pretty!"

"So…would you like to stay here a bit longer?"

"…I would love to." Said Maps with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Visiting Wayne's Manor**

Rain and a little bit of thunders from far away. That was almost everything she could see in the sky through the window of her room, all of this while her weekend was just starting. On one side, most of the boys and girls of the academy ran into a safe place to not getting their clothes wet; while another group ran outside to do things like games or dancing without caring how strong the rain was. The youngest of the Mizoguchi sighed with clear boredom. These were the times in which she couldn't do much of activities.

Despite all of this, she couldn't complain at all. It had been just a few days since Robin, Batman's faithful companion, had come to the academy in secret to take her on his own motorcycle and show her a great view of the city at night, all of this in order to give her an apology message from his friend, Damian Wayne. Because of this, she was never going to forget such an amazing moment like that. It was at that moment, that she began to think: " _What would Damian be doing right now on a day like this?_ " The girl took her phone and decided to dial his number who, after a few minutes, answered. At first, it took a while for Bruce Wayne's son to answer, but over the couple of weeks, he now answered a bit faster.

"Hello."

"Damian! Every day you pick up my calls faster. As if you were waiting for me or something like that. Two points in speed!" Said Maps with a small laugh.

"-tt- It's called manners, girl. You should learn something from that." Answered the boy sure of himself. "Is everything all right there?"

"Nothing bad happening around here, o captain! My captain!" Exclaimed Maps as if she were some kind of a sailor. "It's just that there's not much to do here, now that the rain is ruining my weekend so far."

"It's... a pity to hear that."

"I was calling you because I was curious about something: What do you do when there are days like these?"

Silence from Damian's side. Sometimes the questions she asked him about his life made the boy take a long time to reply. Was it that hard for him to say about those things and why he always took a long time to answer for something that simple? Maps was always curious and intrigued by these kind of situations, as if he was hiding something from her, but at least with this, she could learn bit by bit more about his new friend.

"Sometimes... I go out with my father to take walk around the city."

"Oh! Father and son bonding time!" Said Maps. "Does that mean you're going out with him tonight?"

"No. He... has to see some of his friends who need his help." Replied Damian while trying to skip that answer.

"And what do you do when you're alone then? You play videogames? Take a walk by yourself? Go to the movies?"

"-tt- The movie theater you are talking about is for ordinary people. At my home, I have a special room designed like one and with an infinite collection of films." Commented Damian with his typical arrogance.

That comment from his friend made Maps became excited in an instant. The very idea of having a room made like a movie theater and with thousands of movies at her disposal, made her imagine herself watching all those movies for the rest of her life till she became old. By then, the girl began to think about something: What things does Damian have in his home? On the other side of the call, Damian was becoming anxious about the little giggles he could heard, yet no answer from Maps.

"You're quiet again." Said Damian with some discomfort as he made her come back to reality.

"An exclusive room to watch movies as a cinema!? Damian that sounds like one of the coolest things someone can have in their house! I would definitely have one if I could!"

"I'm not much to use it anyway, I prefer to go to the gym we have in another room." Answered Damian.

"A whole gym!? That sure explains why you love doing martial arts so much!"

"…You are correct."

"You know; now I'm really curious to know what other things you have in your house." Said Maps all excited.

"My house? We have a bit of everything."

It was thanks to this last comment that Maps had a brilliant idea to spend today and stop being bored because of the weather. The girl gave a small laugh, which his friend could notice and immediately after, suspected that she was up to something right now. After many invitations and conversations since the very first day they met, Damian was already getting used to her.

"Damian?" Asked a curious Maps.

"What?"

"Are you going to be busy today?"

"I... I was thinking about going out later to... wander around the city." Damian responded with some suspicion. "Why?"

"So you're not going to do anything right now?

"No. You never answered my question: Why do you ask?" Asked again Damian with more suspicion.

"And you say your father is not going to be around for a while?"

"Child, just tell me what the hell do you want." Answered the boy clearly annoyed.

"Simple: I want to know your place and see all the things you have!" Said Maps with joy.

"You… want to come to…my house? Today? Asked Damian surprised and thoughtful.

Those questions asked by the son of Bruce Wayne sounded like he didn't feel very comfortable with that kind of proposal. Maps thought then that maybe he did actually have something important to do right now and he didn't have time to be with her, while a silence manifested itself in the conversation on both sides. The adventurous girl became worried and thought maybe it was best to forget this or perhaps change it for another day.

"Hello? Damian? Are you there?" Maps asked worried. "Listen if you don't want, I have no problem and we can change it...

"Mizoguchi." Interrupted the billionaire kid.

"Oh. What happen?" Asked the girl suddenly.

"How do you plan to come to my house exactly?"

"Well... a taxi?" Responded her with a small laugh of nervousness.

"-tt- Forget about that. I took the liberty to tell Alfred to pick you up."

"Alfred? Doesn't he feel bothered to come alone just for me?"

"It's my butler, child. I tell him something and he obeys." Informed Damian. "If my calculations do not fail, he will be arriving in about thirty minutes and I doubt he wants to wait for you with this kind of rain."

"Cool! I'm going to prepare then! You are the best!" Shouted Maps before ending the call.

Then, the youngest of the Mizoguchi began looking around her room until she found her useful backpack, which she usually used in all the adventures she had with her friends at the academy. Inside it lay objects such as: A flashlight, different maps of the campus, strings, pencils and colors, compass, emergency batteries, candy, a kit to open locks and water. In spite of all those things and considering that there was no room for more, she felt that she needed something else, something that could help her to know more about the mysterious and billionaire boy who seemed to hide parts of his life. Mia then thought for a few minutes until an idea came to her; took a small notebook that he had on his desk and started writing " _Knowing Damian Wayne_ " and then wrote she knew so far of his friend: Billionaire, presumptuous, knows how to do martial arts, grumpy, wants to be like his father, etc. This new search for information was going to be fun for the girl.

A few minutes passed and Maps had everything ready for her visit to Damian's house. Emotion and adrenaline surrounded all over her body, so much so that her steps towards the main door of the academy were accelerating at every minute. Once arriving at the extraction point, she met the Wayne's loyal butler Alfred, who gave her a warm smile as a sign of respect and greeting. The man was wearing his typical clothing and holding an umbrella in one of his hands so as not to get wet with the great rain that didn't seem to end.

"Hi, Alfred!" Yelled Maps as she approached the butler.

"Good afternoon, Miss Mizoguchi. It's such a pleasure to see you again since last time."

"Likewise! I bet it must be boring having to attend every day to Damian's whims..."

"You know; I'm starting to like that attitude of yours." Confessed Alfred with a small laugh. "Allow me to carry your backpack, you are our guest of honor."

The butler took the umbrella to cover both of them and go to the Wayne limousine. He opened one of the doors and let Maps enter and then went to the driver's seat and turn on the engines and start the journey. Mizoguchi on the other hand, looked at the landscape with emotion as she felt how she was getting closer to Damian's home.

"You seem very excited, Miss Mizoguchi!" Commented Pennyworth happily.

"It's the first time I'm going to Damian's house! Of course I am!"

"To be honest, you are one of the very few people he invites to the Wayne Manor."

"Really? I thought that by being a billionaire, Damian would have thousands of friends." Said Maps amazed.

"Well, no. Master Damian isn't actually a person who has a lot of friends. He took that a lot from his father when he was young." Chuckled Alfred.

"Huh, interesting!" Replied Maps while taking out her notebook and writing that curious fact.

"I could tell you more about him but it has to be a secret between us, if you want of course."

"Sure! Tell me everything you know!" Shouted Maps with such joy.

Along the way, the youngest of the Mizoguchi knew more about his friend from a whole new perspective, thanks to the loyal butler: His hobbies, favorite foods, the relationship he has with his father, daily routines and even discovered that he has older siblings. Because of this last information, she wanted to know each one of them since they sounded like they had a nicer personality than Damian's. The conversation sadly had to be interrupted because Alfred announced that they had already reached the mansion and Maps, was stunned by the immense place and that surrounded it. Stuck to the window of her seat, Maps looked at all the bushes and decorations that the road had along with the old design of the mansion, deducting it thanks to the design that probably the house existed since the nineteenth century and that showed a very good state of conservation up until this day. The boring history classes seemed to show good results for the young adventurer but what was inside was actually what caught her attention. Finally, the car stopped at the main entrance of the mansion and Alfred quickly opened the driver's door, with an open umbrella, to the one of their guest of honor.

"We have arrived at the Wayne Manor, Miss Mizoguchi." Said Alfred calmly as he took the backpack and gave it to her.

"This is too much for me! It looks like I'm about to enter to some kind of a museum!"

"The benefits of being one of the wealthiest families in the city. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll leave the car in the garage, but feel yourself at home: Come in and probably Master Damian will be waiting for you."

"Thanks Alfred!" Shouted happily Maps as she approached the door.

Turning the handles, Maps opened the entrance to the mansion and the first thing she could see with her eyes was an impressive entrance: Fine furniture surrounded by ornaments such as small statues made of pure marble with human and animal shapes, ceramics and vases that probably came from the most expensive auctions in the country, walls and floors so detailed that they seemed to be freshly made and paintings that showed several members of past generations of the Wayne family. Among those, in the center of the room, was standing out the greatest of them all: There was a man, a woman and a small child that showed an innocent smile, cheering the whole picture. She could somehow recognize that little boy as if she had seen him before, yet she couldn't be sure who he was. Curiosity began to emerge in her as she slowly approached it. The silence was noticeable along with the noise of the rain and some thunder making the whole atmosphere somewhat gloomy but that didn't scare Maps, she had already gone through similar times in the academy and was a piece of cake. Finally, she came closer to the painting and saw that the little one really did show a similar face to Damian's except the smile, that little detail made her think that she actually had never seen Damian smile like that until now.

"Those are my grandparents: Thomas and Martha Wayne, together with my father." Said a voice coming from behind Maps.

Mizoguchi gave a slight cry of fright and quickly turned around to see with her eyes who mentioned that. Then, a loud thunder was heard illuminating part of the entrance and showing a confident Damian Wayne, but without giving visual contact, focusing more on the painting as if he was admiring the people who were in that piece of art. Meanwhile, she wondered when did he had appeared, as if he had taken some ninja classes and had already mastered the art of stealth or something like that.

"How!? W-Where did you even come from!?" Shouted Maps.

"I like to surprise people." Replied Damian with arrogance and a smirk.

"You have to show me how you do it one of these days!"

"It takes a lot of discipline and training to do that, child. Something that I doubt you have."

"Always so rude! So you greet everyone like this?"

"-tt- ...Hello." Said the boy trying to sound all polite. "I see that Pennyworth brought you at the exact time, as I predicted. I hope the trip was safe and entertaining."

"Sure it was! Alfred told me a lot of things about you!"

"I hope for his sake that they were good things."

"So... your father used to look like this." Commented Maps while returning to see the enormous picture. "You're almost the exact same picture of him!"

"Of course. I'm his son, genius. Now let me show you a bit about the mansion and please... do not touch anything." Exclaimed Damian very serious when he saw that Maps was about to touch a valuable vase.

The girl stopped what she was going to do after the warning and approached her friend to prepare what appeared to be a tour of the manor, starting at the entrance. Damian on the other hand walked first and explained the origins of the Wayne mansion that dated back centuries ago, being built by one of the first wealthy families to reach Gotham. However, Maps was distracted by looking at all the valuable details that the place possessed and with a huge desire to grab them.

"…Interesting. Don't you think, Maps?" Asked Damian without looking at her.

"W-What? What did you said?" Asked Maps distracted and returning to reality, while looking at the Wayne kid.

"You were paying attention to what I was saying. Right?"

"S-Sure, of course. Totally!" Answered her. "Very interesting indeed!"

"What did I said then?"

"Uh well... uh... that the Wayne manor… had been built in the... nineteenth… century?"

"…Correct. It was built exactly and to be more precise in the year 1885 and since then, it has maintained six generations of Wayne's, including me, the future heir."

"Always so full of yourself. Don't you?" Asked Maps a bit bothered.

"Anyway, here's the first room to enter: The library."

Immediately, Damian opened the doors of the room and entered while he invited her friend to accompany him to show a large room surrounded by shelves of books everywhere. The girl could not contain the emotion and see all the collections that had alphabetically and by genre: From classical literatures such as " __ _The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha_ ", " _Moby Dick_ ", " _Madame Bovary_ " and " _The Metamorphosis_ " to dialogues or philosophical essays as " _Republic_ " of Plato, " _The Social Contract_ " by Rousseau and " _The Art of War_ " by Sun Tzu. Each one of these books showed to be original versions and conserved. Even some papyri enclosed in glass boxes to stay acclimated in stable conditions. This really looked like a public library, but with much better content and quality.

"You have all of these books!?" Yelled Maps. "Don't tell me you've read all of them!"

"Not really. At least I read the ones I like. My father, on the other hand... has read each one of them and whenever he can, he reads them again. Every single one of them.

"Amazing! What is your favorite book then?"

"It's hard to say actually: On one hand, I like Sun Tzu's philosophy now that I've been reading it a bit about his work. But then I have a small fascination with the imagination of Jules Verne at the time of his book " _Around the World in Eighty Days_ ". Such an abstract concept of traveling if I must say." Said Damian with an attitude of intellectual boy.

"...Back then there were no Superman or Batman. Now that I think about it, I bet Batman can travel the world quickly with his plane!" Commented the girl pretty convinced.

"-tt- It's a jet, you uncultured girl."

"Oh yeah? How do you know?" Asked Maps with tease.

"…Robin told me." Replied quickly Damian while trying not to cause suspicion. "How about you?" Any special book that you like?"

"Does the comic " _The Adventures of Billy Walker, American Ninja_ " count?" Commented Maps in an innocent way.

Damian gave a small sigh of disappointment. It seemed that he expected much more on part of her with the subject of an interesting book so that both could talk deeply and analyze in detail, but from what he saw and heard, this was impossible since Maps was a childish girl who just acted like a girl of her age, something that the Wayne heir unfortunately had not interacted almost never, due of its origin and harsh childhood.

"Comics don't count, Maps."

"Why not? They have text..." Explained Maps with her logic.

"Comic are foolish, childish and they only focus on simple stories with greater emphasis on the drawings. Only the immature read them." Answered Damian directly.

"You think so? It seems someone hasn't read some good comics that can change his perspective!" Answered Maps with a laugh next with a pat to Damian's shoulder.

"Just tell me some book you've read before I become completely disappointed."

"I like Frankenstein!" Said the girl with joy. "You know… crazy scientist who creates a monster and there is chaos and mobs with fear and..."

"Actually, the concept of the work is about the dangers of man trying to act like God." Interrupted Damian suddenly. "And of course, you also have the point of view of the monster that tries to withstand the hatred of society towards him and his desire for revenge towards his creator."

"Wow... that ... sounds very interesting now that you mention it! I'll read it again when I can!"

"I think it's enough in here. Let's continue with another room." Finished Damian while exiting the library.

Leaving right to the hall once again and walking through more corridors to a door similar to the entrance to the library, Damian proceeded to open it and show what was inside this new room: It showed multiple exercise machines to improve the physical performance of the person or to increase someone's muscle mass. In the distance, there was what appeared to be a kind of quadrilateral with materials needed in some kind of combat whether it was boxing, martial arts or Greco-Roman wrestling. On the other side, several ideal objects for classes of acrobatics or gymnastics and finally in another corner, different wooden dolls with hundreds of non-lethal weapons for some kind of personal defense. Maps could not speak because her mouth was so open and shocked at this place that seemed like paradise to her, she went to go running to the weapons until she was stopped by Damian who took her hand before she could have got herself hurt.

"Before you interrupted me with your state of childlike emotion, I was saying that this is the room for exercises. This is where I spend most of the day."

"Who needs to go to a gym when you can have your very own?! Let's see you have nunchakus, katanas and... holy molly... ninja stars! And with little inscriptions!"

"I told you: Don't touch anything." Ordered Damian.

"But... the sword! It's calling me! I am the chosen one!" Begged Maps.

"The sword is fake, girl. It's just for pure decoration."

"I hope you're not lying to me, Damian Wayne. For your sake!" Said Maps while approaching his friend with seriousness to his face.

Damian was starting to get nervous. He knew that she had no chance against him, someone who had trained all his life to be a lethal weapon. Any false move and Damian could give her a beating she would never forget, but he would abstain. His code of honor made by his father and as Robin prevented him, he couldn't do something like that against an innocent and even less to someone like Maps, her only " _normal_ " friend. In spite of this, he felt somewhat uncomfortable having someone so close to him and he could notice so many things about her such as the color of her eyes, the freckles that she had on her face and most of all her somewhat nice scent. He had to get away from this trick of hers as soon as possible, before one of them could get hurt and he didn't want to take any chances.

"Girl, my patience has a limit and I don't recommend you to continue testing it." Said Damian while getting away a little bit. "But yes, I must admit that at least you do know how to identify those weapons."

"Of course! It's because of the Bruce Lee movies." Replied Maps.

"…Bruce Lee?

"You know who Bruce Lee is. Do you?" Asked Maps with some concern.

"Of course I know who he is... he's... a director."

"Tell me a movie you know about him then."

"I don't have time to answer to such meaningless question." Said Damian while trying to dodge the interrogation.

"Oh…my…god. Damian Wayne does not know who Bruce Lee actually is! Do you hear that everyone?! Damian Wayne does not know who Bruce Lee is!" Shouted Maps to an invisible crowd.

"Can you shut up? God you are so...so...immature!" Exclaimed Damian annoyed.

"Never fear, my billionaire friend! Nobody will know your terrible secret! Detective promise!"

"…Detective?" Asked Damian with a bit of confusion at that statement.

"Oh that's right!" Said Maps while having an idea. "We can take this as an opportunity and go to your movie room! I'm sure you have some Bruce Lee movies so you can see how great he was!"

"-tt- If that helps you to keep yourself calmed down and stop humiliating me, then let's get going already."

Once again leaving another room, Damian guided Maps through the halls of the Wayne manor. She seemed to had been in a great mood so far, from a boring place like her bedroom in the academy on a rainy day, to seeing with her very own eyes how great was the house of his friend and all the things he had with the benefits of being someone rich: A mansion, an infinite library of knowledge, a whole personal gym and everything surrounded by valuable items. However, she felt that despite everything Damian had, he sometimes wasn't happy and perhaps, it was because he couldn't share these things with someone around his age, that was going to change from now on as she felt committed to making it happen. Damian, on the other hand, stopped and before turning the knob he looked at his guest and then gave her a warning.

"We've arrived. And please do not panic."

"I must warn you: In these type of situations, most likely I will be in a state of shock." Said the girl while smiling and giving little jumps of emotion.

"Well I tried. Here it is: The movies room." Said Damian before opening the door.

Maps entered quickly and forward, not caring that his friend came in first and what she saw had taken away all the emotion she ever had. In front of her was a projection screen that completely covered a wall just to enjoy the film in all possible aspects; in another wall there were hundreds of feature films of different genres and different years that could be the dream of any cinema fan, each well preserved and with special editions and in another wall was the sound equipment that connected in each corner of the room several sound speakers that could make listen to the farthest of sounds of the movie. All these things were inside, while in the center lay seats that seemed to have been made for exclusive movie theaters and looked as comfortable as possible. This was the paradise for her and she couldn't stand so much emotion, that the amateur detective fainted and fell to the floor.

It had been a few minutes until Maps opened her eyes once again and the first thing she saw was the face of his friend Damian along with Alfred's at his side. Both looked at her with a certain look of concern and intrigue at what had happened before turning into calm looks, especially the boy.

"Are you all right, Miss Mizoguchi? Asked Alfred.

"-tt- I can't believe you've fainted because of this."

"Well I can't believe you don't use this room as it should be!" Replied Maps with a bit of sarcasm while getting herself up slowly.

"Maybe it's for the better if we spent the movies for another day, Maps." Said Damian. "It's better that Pennyworth attends you and take you to the academy before you make another show."

"Are you kidding me? I won't move from here until we see a Bruce Lee movie. No sir!"

"Did I miss something, Master Damian?" Asked the butler curiously.

"Nothing important, Pennyworth. It is just that…"

"…It's just that we came up with the great idea of watching movies and having a good time until the rain passed!" Maps informed as she approached the movie area to find what she needed.

"Well I think that's a wonderful idea, Miss Mizoguchi! Allow me to bring you food and drinks for your fun activity." Said Alfred before rapidly leaving.

Damian tried with no success to stop his butler, as he went quickly to do his task. Meanwhile Maps, while making small whistles of music, had found the films she was looking for and he seemed to accept the fact that in the end, he would end up watching a boring feature film by force. Truly, Maps had a tremendous power of persuasion on people and he was aware of it; he needed to find a way to stop this threat according to him.

"I hope you're happy now." Said Damian with clear stress.

"Of course I am. Why do you ask? Asked her without looking at him.

"Do you… really want me to watch a movie with you?"

"Hey, you're my friend and it's impossible that a martial arts fan like you has not seen something of Bruce Lee. It is essential for anyone!"

"-tt- If you say so."

"Look, if you don't like it, we can do something else. But first, give it a try. Ok? You can choose between these three films I chose for you: " _Fists of Fury_ ", " _The Return of the Dragon_ " and my personal favorite " _The Game of Death_ ". Said Maps with a dark tone voice to the last option.

Silently, Damian looked at the covers of each one of the feature films to finally choose the third option. She smiled as ever and went to the projector to put the tape, while the heir of the Wayne family sat in one of the special chairs with crossed arms as if he were a grounded child. Maps turned off the lights and sat in the chair right next to him excited as the screen showed the title of the film along with the introduction music.

"A good choice, Mister Wayne!" Said Maps with an imitation of Alfred's voice.

"Does this have a complex storyline or something?" Asked Damian.

"Only the basics: The idea is to focus more on the action sequences!"

"Alright then, let's just get this over with."

"Did you know that he was so fast that many of his scenes had to be done with a slow motion camera and even with that he still looked very fast?" Commented Maps in slow tone voice while the movie was just starting.

"...No, I didn't." Answered the boy with a frown at that curious fact.

After a couple of hours and not just one movie, but even the other two that Maps suggested, Damian had his eyes opened looking at every single detail and every movement of the martial arts idol that he made against his opponents. Sometimes, even he exclaimed to her friend about what was happening in the movie, all of this while the girl laughed at the comments of his friend and was kept entertained with the moment between the two.

"Did you see how he played psychologically with his enemies? it caused them to fall to such simple mistakes!" Commented Damian carefully.

"Classic Bruce Lee!"

"And did you saw how even against so many enemies and in closed spaces he could get away with it easily?"

"That's the way most of his films work, dude!" Maps confirmed with a smile while eating some popcorn.

"And how all of them, despite having so many weapons, he just took them off or used a simple object?" Asked Damian once again, even imitating some poses of the actor.

Maps couldn't stop laughing and noticing his friend making those imitations of the great master Lee. He seemed totally funny and above all, completely out of character this version of Damian Wayne, that it would be very difficult to see him like this around a group of people like her friends from the academy; just by telling it to Olive, she would never believe it. The youngest of the Mizoguchi liked to see this new Damian unlike the millionaire and presumptuous boy that liked to show off his martial arts in secret, although she never complained at all with the original version, but this had something that caught her attention and could admit that she was having a great time with. On this day, Mizoguchi had learned that Damian had a secret side and was a great friend after all. And of course, a totally amazing house.

The son of Bruce Wayne realized that there was once again a silence that ended with a laughter, as her guest of honor was staring him doing a " _decent_ " imitation of the actor and was, according to his own point of view, making a fool of himself. Damian gave a small cough and gathered himself to look at Maps, who was still looking at him deeply, but with an innocent smile. He blushed a little bit because of this.

"I can tell, you really liked those movies!" Said the girl happily.

"-tt- I'll admit they have... something interesting. If I get free time... I'll see more of him again."

"You are welcome." Commented once again Maps while throwing a small popcorn to his friend.

"Don't do that."

"Or what? The billionaire will make a demand against me?" Threatened Maps with provocation while throwing more popcorn to him.

"No." Replied Damian. "But I can do... this!"

Damian took his bucket of popcorn and in a second, he threw some of the food directly into her face. Maps, on the other hand, tried to dodge while laughing and hiding between the seats and prepared herself by holding her hand a good portion of the same food; both of them were in their world having fun, no matter how messy the room would end up, they just cared to have a good time until the rain ended.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Spying**

Kyle Mizoguchi had a great popularity within the academy and it was especially due to two things: The first one, his great skill with the tennis racket that took him to several championships and secondly, his charisma that make him one of the most popular guys and, even sometimes, one of the most desired guys by the girls around the place. But what few people knew was that behind the prefect of the boy's dorm, there was someone who cared a lot for his loved ones and a few were his friends from the so-called " _detective club_ ": Pomeline, Colton, his ex-girlfriend, Olive and above all his younger sister, Maps.

The adventures they had in group were always related to the mysterious and the paranormal stuff: Vampires, ghosts, werewolves, disappearances, secret passages, time travel, whatever could come to your mind was already in there in some way and they always managed to solve each case just to get a new one. Sometimes, even the studies were left behind and the members forgot that they were in the academy, and in the case of the older Mizoguchi, this was noticed now in his tennis practices, his main sport: The school's schedule was about to end and Kyle was practicing some shots accompanied by coach Humphreys, who threw the balls in different areas of the field and speeds from slow to very fast, causing the young student to react as soon as possible and moving around. Until a certain moment, he felt the fatigue and fell defeated. The coach gave a sigh of disappointment because of what he saw.

"What's wrong, Mizoguchi? Already tired?" Asked the trainer while grabbing some of the tennis balls.

"No, sir. I just…just need a little break and we can keep going."

"Let's call it a day and leave it for now, Kyle. I don't want my top star to feel exhausted for the next game." Commented Humphreys. "Besides, it seems someone is waiting for you."

Mizoguchi looked through the spectator benches after listening to his coach and what he could see, on one side, were the typical fans who admired him as every single day, something that didn't actually bothered him, although he personally preferred to see Olive over there. On the other end, there was a boy wearing sunglasses and showing a confident smile, making Kyle approach him to receive a towel; it was Colton Rivera, the other male member of the detective club.

"How long have you been watching me?

"Just enough..." Said Colton as he adjusted his glasses. "You have a very good swing, Kyle!"

"…Thank you? But seriously, tell me what's going on."

"I just wanted to let you know that we're going to meet in a few hours. Apparently Maps wants to tell us something big. Don't even ask me what it is, she didn't want to tell."

"You think it's because of that so-called " _Arkham's ghost_?"

"I don't even have the slightest idea." Clarified Rivera.

"Tell them I'll be there in a few minutes." Informed the older Mizoguchi. "I need to take a shower first."

What could her sister want to inform about? If something that Kyle was good at, apart from sports, was that he knew Mia well enough and her decisions to impress others with some " _master_ " plan to discover a mystery. And with the passing of the last days inside the academy, rumors spread that at night you could see none other than the ghost of Amadeus Arkham, founder of the well-known and infamous Arkham Asylum for criminals and especially supervillains of non-other than the Batman. Kyle already had some experience with the supernatural but always tried to see everything from a logical and credible point of view while living in the academy.

A few hours later and with the sound of the bells indicating that the day of studies was over, each of the students of the faculty used to take what was left of the day to do different activities: On one side, you could see the athletes doing simulations of games and showing off their physics to their fans; in another, to the nerds in the library reading hundreds of books to expand their knowledge and in other places some problematic ones causing jokes in bad taste towards some teachers or anyone who would cross their path. Kyle didn't care about any of those when he went to the meeting point and that was in the courtyard of the academy, where he could see from afar Pomeline, Colton, his sister Maps and Olive.

"Kyle! Last one to arrive!" Yelled Maps. "Minus 3 speed points, brother."

"Blame the coach with his training, but I'm here." Indicated the oldest of the Mizoguchi while sitting on the grass.

"Alright Maps, tell us what you have discovered." Said Olive curiously.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's what we needed to find the ghost of Amadeus Arkham: A sequence on his apparitions!" Exclaimed Maps while taking one of her famous maps from her backpack. "According to the reports I've gathered, the spectrum always appears on Fridays at one in the morning. Specifically, in the botanical gardens and in the library at the psychology section!"

"That's all?" Commented Pomeline somewhat disappointed. "I thought you had found something like his hidden remains and that's why the poor guy cannot rest in peace."

"Oh, I'd love to find something like that, but not for the moment." Said Maps. "If we can hide in different places where it has been seen and with the materials that Colton will give us..."

"Excuse me? I will give?" Asked confused the boy with sunglasses.

"Colton, you always manage to get things when we need them... as I was saying, before being interrupted: With the materials that Colton will give us we can catch the ghost and a new mystery will be solved!" Exclaimed an excited Mia.

"Sounds like a good plan, Maps!" Said Olive motivated. "Shall we start tonight then?"

"T-Today?" Asked the map girl suddenly confused. "D-Does it necessarily have to be today?"

Kyle, like the other members of the club, had noticed that his younger sister's attitude changed suddenly. Knowing her, she would have agreed to start the case as soon as they all went to their bedrooms or even, she was able to put themselves in one of the indicated places until nightfall, but now she was looking different. No one expected that reaction from her and they thought something was wrong with Maps.

"Is there a problem with doing this today, Maps?" Asked Pomeline distrustfully.

"Couldn't we pass this for another day? M-Maybe Monday?" Proposed Mia with nerves.

"But today is Friday... and according to you, those are the days that the ghost appears." Answered Silverlock with logic.

"R-Right! But... but... I'm… sick! Yeah!" Shouted Maps before giving a serious cough.

"Sick?" Asked the older Mizoguchi now with doubt.

"You don't look sick." Affirmed Colton. "You guys notice she's ill or something?"

Mia looked at everyone without focusing in someone, it was clear that she was entering in some sort of panic situation while her body trembled and her forehead was showing a few drops of sweat coming out. Kyle was getting worried, this was unusual and had never seen his sister act in that way, but not by the fact of being " _sick_ ", it was because of the reaction she was giving to everyone just for not wanting to solve the case on a day like this.

"Guys, I think she's right." Said Kyle as he stood up. "Maybe it's for the best if we had it for another day."

"Ugh, about time someone finally believes me!" Shouted Maps while giving a slight sigh of satisfaction.

"Well, I suppose we could pass this for next Friday if that helps you to get better." Suggested Olive.

"Whatever, when you get everything ready, let me know. If you need me, which I hope it does not happen, I will be in my room studying." Pomeline commented as she left.

"Bye, Pom!" Waved Maps. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll go to my room... to rest. Yes, that! See you!"

Something was wrong and Kyle knew it. Her sister got up quickly and as if she had been cured of her so-called " _illness_ ", she hurried to the girls' dorm leaving him, Colton and Olive observing her with some doubt. He needed to know what was happening with her, but he could not do it alone and took advantage of the moment of silence.

"I don't believe anything Maps said just now. At all." Said Kyle.

"Likewise. Something is happening with her and she doesn't want to tell us." Olive confirmed seriously.

"How do you guys know?" Asked Colton.

"Big brother instinct." Answered Mizoguchi.

"Best friend instinct." Assured Silverlock.

"Then what do we do?"

Olive looked around the campus for a few minutes while the older Mizoguchi was thinking about some plan and Colton, on the other hand, just stood still and silently waiting for a response from any of them. Silverlock knew that her friend was plotting something at their expense and they needed to know what it was or at worst, if she was in some kind of trouble. It was by then, that the white-haired girl had an idea that would help them discover the secret held by the youngest of the Mizoguchi.

"I got it!" Announced Olive. "I'm going to spy on Maps and if I see some suspicious attitude, I'll let you guys know so the three of us can follow her from far..."

"...And that will take us to whatever she's hiding." Ended the phrase Colton. "Great idea!"

"We will be waiting for you then, Olive. Keep us informed at anything." Proposed Kyle. "Come on Colton, we have to get ready."

With the plan made and waiting for the call at the outsides of the study center, the oldest of the Mizoguchi and Rivera went to the mobile home that they used at times to perform experiments or analysis of objects when solving cases. Outside, it was unusual to see a vehicle like that in a forest, in the middle of hundreds of trees and especially with the state in which it was. Inside the place looked much worse, as it was messy with hundreds of objects such as magazines, gadgets in the process of experimentation and electronic devices, but still someone could accommodate if things were moved somewhere and with caution. There was a dead silence from both boys, especially on Kyle's side who was sitting on one of the sofas while Colton, somewhat nervous of being alone with him, wanted to break the ice by taking advantage of the situation in which they were. Bracing himself, the boy with the sunglasses swallowed his nervousness and decided to take the lead.

"So... what do you think your sister is hiding?"

"I have no idea. You?"

"With everything we've seen here, it could be anything: A monster, a hidden treasure, a secret passage to somewhere... who knows." Suggested Colton.

"Look, let's just not reach any conclusion until we see what she's doing. Ok?"

"Hey, you were the one who asked me!"

Colton gave a slight laugh as a joke but didn't last long; since Kyle was restless, he stood up to look at one of the windows of the vehicle and did not show the same mood as his partner. Rivera needed to do something about it or this opportunity was going to be wasted by waiting in silence. That's why he stood up and took out from a small freezer two soft drinks, one giving to his guest and the other to himself. They both opened the drinks at the same time and in friendship they gave each other a small toast to drink a little each one.

"Relax, dude. I don't think Maps is in some sort of difficult situation."

"I hope so, too." Said Kyle. "Hey Colton."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for cheering me up."

"T-There's no need!" Colton said with a bit of blush. "Hey... mind if I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Are you and Olive...I mean no offense but… is there still something between you two?" Asked curiously Rivera.

Kyle looked confused for a few seconds: What kind of question was that? Maybe it was a sort of distraction from such concern about Maps or it was probably Colton's attempt to help him find out what was really going on between him and his ex-girlfriend. On one hand, he wanted to go back to her more than anything else in the world, but on the other, he knew well that she also had her own problems and adding the idea of returning was not the best option for both of them. Mizoguchi was going to respond to his friend when his cell phone rang, it was Olive giving the signal: Maps was in motion and they had to follow her now.

"Let's move on!" Said Rivera while taking his backpack ready.

Finally meeting with Silverlock in some bushes near the main door of the academy, the young detectives who were hiding due to not be discovered, could see Maps from afar still wearing her uniform and clearly with the same attitude and energy as always, discarding the blissful " _disease_ " she claimed to have. However, that would not be the strangest thing that was happening, but what would come next: A black limousine appeared from far away and slowed down, finally parking just where the youngest of the Mizoguchi was. A man, probably in his fifties or sixties and dressed very elegantly, came out of the driver's seat greeting Maps in a very polite way, while she returned the greeting with great confidence, as if they had already known each other for a good time. The man who only called her formally, opened one of the passenger doors and let her quietly enter and then went to his seat again and started lighting the limousine. It was time to follow this vehicle to its enigmatic destiny.

"Maps!" Exclaimed Kyle clearly worried.

"Kyle, keep it quiet!" Interrupted Olive. "We cannot let them see us or we will be in serious trouble!"

"Neither we can't let them escape!" Replied the older brother.

"Guess it's time to test my little experiment!" Announced Colton while pulling a spring from his backpack. "Please don't fail me…"

Taking advantage of the noise emitted by the vehicle while igniting the engine, Colton fired what appeared to be a small metal device that managed to hook tightly with the trunk of the limousine. Immediately afterwards, Rivera took a small monitor out of his backpack to turn it on and showed a remote point of light on the screen, implying that it was, in fact: A radar. Kyle and Olive were both amazed at the speed and ingenuity of his friend, who started to think what would have happened if he had not been at this time, probably both would've surrendered or sought a more difficult alternative.

"Good job, Colton!" Said Kyle while patting his back.

"We can follow the limousine and Maps with that tracker!" Shouted Olive.

"I have a way to follow them!" Informed Rivera. "Quick, to the parking lot!"

The trio ran quickly to the parking lot, where they found some cars belonging to the teachers, but none of them were what they specifically wanted, until they reached the private site of none other than principal Hammer, where that changed. The car was perfect for this type of situation: A sports model fast enough to reach the vehicle that Maps entered with black color that made it easily camouflage in the darkness. Colton took out of his pockets his set of picks to enter in a matter of minutes just to turn off the alarm system and plugging in some cables and with that, the students " _borrowed_ " the latest model car from the rector. Kyle climbed into the copilot seat while Olive in the back holding the radar and Rivera stomped on the accelerator to try to reach the limousine. The road was dark due to the forest that surrounded the entire route, preventing any trace of light from appearing on the track but not making it impossible to drive, since over a couple of minutes later, it was showing little by little nothing less than the own Gotham City. Where were they taking Maps exactly?

The city felt more alive than ever at this time, comparing it when they visited it in the day: Noises and lights everywhere, police patrols appearing in many streets and sometimes, you could even hear screams or shots from afar. The rumors were true about Gotham: At night everything was more dangerous, but for the young detectives, that was not an impediment. After several streets and turns around the city, they could see the limousine park just in time at the entrance of a building, making Colton take advantage of it and park in an alley so that the three of them could leave and observe from afar. The man driving the limousine again left the vehicle to open the passenger door, causing Maps to leave happily until entering the building while this mysterious gentleman entered the vehicle and waited.

"Hammer is so going to kill us for this, guys." Said Colton.

"We have to enter somehow without being noticed..." Indicated Kyle while ignoring the comment of his friend. "But how?"

"How about through the emergency exit and see where it goes without her seeing us!" Proposed Olive.

"What are we waiting for?" Commented the older Mizoguchi. "Let's go!"

"But what about the car?" Asked the boy in dark glasses somewhat nervous.

"That doesn't matter now! We have to see Maps!" Shouted Olive while crossing the street.

With the three evading the security guards at the main entrance and entering the alley that led to the back of the building, Kyle opened a red door that reflected an emergency exit sign for his teammates and entered quickly to finally closing it carefully. What they saw next seemed something totally out of their leagues: Lights everywhere in very thin lamps of different styles, the floor made of new ceramics and walls completely clean as best they could, while the people who were around there were wearing very elegant as opposed to anyone in the streets or them who continued to wear their respective uniforms. It was thanks to the latter that they could see in the distance the youngest of the Mizoguchi enter, as if she already knew the place perfectly, to an elevator that suddenly closed. As they approached the elevators they could see which floor it was heading: Number seven, one of the last.

"Don't worry guys, we can use the other one next door." Indicated Kyle as he was about to press the up button.

"So your sister can see us and then ask what the hell are we doing here?" Interrupted rightly Colton while holding the hand of the elder Mizoguchi. "I say that's a bad move!"

"Guys, over here!" Informed Silverlock as she pointed to the emergency stairs.

"Oh no. No no and no! I completely refuse to climb seven floors!" Said Colton with clear disagreement.

"Do what you want, then. Stay outside and keep an eye on Hammer's car while you wait for us." Ordered Olive before quickly climbing the stairs.

"Come on Colton, a little exercise won't be so bad." Suggested Kyle with a small laugh.

Rivera hated doing exercises, as he preferred to see with his eyes instead of doing, and mostly if he could appreciate Kyle doing his tennis moves. It wasn't one of his great strengths but it wasn't his greatest weakness either, since his physique was decent enough and he was in a good health condition, but he had other areas that he could use his skills better. While climbing the floors, Olive and Colton seemed to stress more with each step and shortness of breath, indicating that they were running out, unlike the star player who had no problem with it.

"When this is over..." Said Colton tiredly as he climbed the steps. "...I'm going to have a serious conversation with Maps about this escape of hers."

"If that happens, she will listen to me first." Interrupted Olive with clear discomfort. "Seriously where are we going with these steps?"

"I think the answer is right here." Commented Kyle calmly as he stopped. "See? Seventh floor and without any problem. Now remember: Do not make any noise and hide."

Carefully opening the door, the three entered silently and squatting to avoid attracting the attention of anyone who was around. The surprising thing about all of this now, was that the stage looked very different from the first floor where they were recently: The lights had significantly decreased their intensity, as well as the presence of the staff, showing that there was almost nobody and in the center several tables empty except for one where Maps was sitting happily together with another person, a boy of about the same age and size. They approached little by little while hiding in a scrub that served as an ornament and at the same time, each one asked about the identity of the mysterious boy, but couldn't find an answer.

"Who is he?" Asked Olive curiously.

"You're asking me? I don't even know! I've never seen him in the academy before." Said Colton.

"...For some reason I feel like I've seen him before, yet I can't remember where or how." Speak Kyle completely confused.

The identity of the young man was unknown to the trio for now, as the only thing they could do for now was to analyze him by his physical appearance: Dark and short hair, blue eyes and an olive-toned skin, probably of oriental roots and wearing a made up suit with an elegant shirt, clearly showing that he had a good style when dressing himself. His expression was of a serious boy with no sense of humor at all, although he seemed to be very comfortable where he was or in this case, with whom he was at the moment, observing the girl minutely from head to toe. The boy clicked with his fingers, indicating to those who seemed to be the waiters to brought several portions of pizzas while they served them both and the young Maps, who suddenly grabbed a piece of food and eat it quickly. The scenario was very strange for Kyle, Olive and Colton who just stood still and trying to make the minimum noise while talking.

"You think this guy is bad news for Maps?" Asked Colton a bit worried now.

"I… don't think so? I mean… look." Pointed Olive with a slight astonishment.

The two male members of the club changed their view from the mysterious companion to the youngest of the Mizoguchi, to see clearly that she was completely happy, but not in the same way that they used to see her at the academy. While she was eating all the pizza she could, at the same time, Maps was talking about anything that caused her much laughter, while he only commented on some things and smiled occasionally.

What was going on right here? Olive began to process the situation in detail to later realize the most obvious answer. How could she be so blind? The " _sickness_ " of Maps, her nervousness, the mysterious exit without letting anyone know. Everything made sense now! There was a sensation that began to palpitate the heart: It was a feeling of pride when realizing what was happening to her best friend. On the other hand, Kyle and Colton were just getting more confused.

"I… I think... our little Maps is growing up, guys." Said Maps holding the emotion.

"What?" Asked Colton.

"What does that eve mean?" Questioned Kyle suddenly.

"Don't you guys see it?" Clarified Silverlock as if it was the most obvious thing. "The scenography, the setting, a boy and a girl spending a night having dinner...!"

"Nope, still not understanding." Said Colton.

"Same." Commented Kyle.

"God, boys..." Replied Olive stressed. "It's a date! Maps is on a date with that guy and she didn't want to tell us!"

"Oh." Reacted Colton slowly. "Oh wow..."

Kyle was stunned without saying anything by the comment of his former girlfriend. Maps? Her little sister? On a date? Something was wrong and he could sense it: He knew his sister better than anyone and she wasn't into this kind of situations. Who was this boy who had the audacity to take his sister out on a date just like that and who knows what strange methods could he have used to convince her? His protective brother instinct had been activated, as well as a great need to teach that brat a lesson who, with every minute that passed, felt that he had seen it before on another past occasion. The oldest of the Mizoguchi slowly began to stand up until he was suddenly stopped by his two friends.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Exclaimed Olive in a low voice while holding him.

"I can't let that guy get away with this!" Replied the older brother with the same tone.

"Get away with it? I think your sister is the one who enjoys this moment more than that guy." Suggested Colton calmly and also grabbing him.

"But..." Said Kyle while trying to justify himself without success.

"Kyle, Maps is enjoying this moment. And as her best friend, I feel really happy for her, although now I have a lot of questions to ask. Wouldn't you be just happy for her, too?" Reasoned Olive with sincerity. "Maybe we can talk to her tomorrow morning at the academy and..."

"No." Instantly replied Kyle. "The sooner the better."

"Look guys, I don't want to interrupt this conversation between you two, but... can we just lower the tone a little bit more before getting caught?" Interrupted Colton in a low voice.

"Then let's go back to the academy and wait for her in her room. What do you say, Kyle?" Proposed Olive.

Kyle didn't want to leave this place nor Maps at the mercy of that boy, but the idea of catching his sister by surprise and questioning her sounded like the best option to discover the truth. Looking at Olive and without saying anything, he nodded and slowly went back to the emergency stairs down with his friends to leave the building by the same route they had entered. To the surprise of the three, once they reached the alley where they had parked the car of principal Hammer, they realized that the vehicle had suddenly disappeared completely, leaving Rivera especially afraid, who feared the worst for him.

"G-Guys...Where is the car?" Asked nervously Colton.

"I think... someone stole it, Colton." Said Olive while pointing some tracks of the tire. "Look, the one who stole looks like wanted to see how fast it was."

"Didn't you set the alarm on after we left?" Asked Kyle.

"I had to deactivate the security so we could take the vehicle, Kyle! And you were so rushed to see Maps appointment that both of you didn't let me install the security again!"

"Hey, calm down. We can take a bus and with the enough time, we can get back to the academy on time." Suggested Silverlock.

"I swear to you: If Hammer finds out it was me; you can say goodbye to my membership in the club!" Finished the sunglasses boy while walking to the bus stop.

After a long way back in one of the last buses offered by the city to the center of studies and returning through the same route where they arrived. Kyle, Olive and Colton went down to the academy and quickly entered into one of the many secret passages that hid the academy and arrived without any sort of problem to the women's dormitory, specifically entering the room of the youngest of the Mizoguchi just to wait for her from her apparent " _date_ ". Kyle sat in the chair near the desk with great disapproval on his face due to what he had seen, while Olive sat on the bed of her best friend imagining what could have happened before and finally, Colton just tried to calm down and hoping that Hammer did not discover who was the vandal who stole his new car.

The clock showed two-thirty in the morning and suddenly, a few light footsteps in the corridors could've be heard. Then, the handle of the door slowly turned to open and show none other than Maps giving a slight laugh while trying to reach for the light switch, until she pressed it and suddenly saw her friends in her own room. Maps gave a cry of shock causing Olive to run towards her and cover her mouth tightly until she calmed down and released her.

"W-What are you guys doing here?!" Exclaimed Maps totally alarmed.

"What are _"we"_ doing? What were _"you"_ doing!" Answered Kyle annoyed.

"We thought you were sick, Maps. As you told us!" Commented Olive worriedly.

"Turns out you weren't here in your room resting, as you told us in the meeting." Finished Colton while crossing his arms in disapproval.

"It's just that... I... you see... it's a funny story and...and ..." Mumbles Maps while trying to explain without success.

"Tell us, Maps. We are your friends and you can trust us." Said Olive calmly and giving her a light hug.

"Yes, Maps. Tell us now." Commented Kyle seriously.

"You're not helping, dude." Interrupted Colton.

"Do you promise not to get angry? Or even tell mom and dad?" Asked Maps this last thing while looking especially to his older brother.

"...I'm going to hold back." Finished the older brother with a sigh.

Maps moved away from Olive and walked a few steps just to stare at the window of her room to then start looking at her three surprise guests. Colton adjusted his sunglasses while Kyle sat next to Olive, who both seemed to act like some kind of father and mother figures that were really worried about their daughter. The adventurous girl took a deep breath and decided to start her confession.

"I... wasn't actually really sick, guys." Said Maps with her face looking at the ground.

"We already knew that." Said all three of them at the same time in an obvious way.

"Then what do you want to know about?"

"We want to know where you were." Commented Rivera.

"Oh. Well, I got invited!"

"Where?" Asked Olive now.

"To a very luxurious restaurant you guys should definitely come: They have like hundreds of tables and all the cutlery possible, with chairs that look like they were taken from some sort of European castle or something and the attention is faster than the whole cafeteria! Oh and not to mention the food, their pizza is the best I have ever tasted!" Commented Maps while licking some of her fingers.

"Sounds… like you had a lot of fun!" Said Olive with a small smile.

"Sure was!"

"And who invited you?" Asked the older brother while maintaining the seriousness.

"My friend Damian!" Replied Maps with her classic smile.

"Damian?" Asked the boys at the same time.

"Hold up!" Silverlock interrupted suddenly. "You mean...Damian... Wayne?"

"The Man, the Myth and the Legend!" Maps confirmed with a laugh. "But now that I think about it, it's about our age so... wouldn't actually be: The Boy, the Myth and the Legend?"

Olive had not heard that name in a long time. The last time was when she accompanied her best friend through the corridors of the academy to deliver a certain letter dedicated to this boy into the mailbox, written by the youngest of the Mizoguchi. Who could have imagined that the son of billionaire Bruce Wayne would end up inviting Maps to a dinner and especially in secret? But the most surprising thing for Silverlock was the fact that, in such a short time, her best friend and him were now at that level of relationship and trust. Wasn't it a bit rushed, maybe? However, she knew her best friend better than anyone else, probably even more than the older brother who was, by the way, with an expression of killing the heir Wayne. But she was aware that if Maps was with him, it was because she trusted Damian and he probably had something that caught her attention.

"So when did you both... do this sort of thing? I mean going out like this." Asked Rivera curiously.

"Let's see... I think like a couple of months already." Reported Maps while she was thinking.

"And is it always been like this?" Questioned Olive now.

"Oh no, sometimes he even invites me to his house!" Replied the youngest of the Mizoguchi with emotion.

"H-His house?" Asked Kyle with more stressed. "Why did you keep it a secret from us?"

"And most importantly: When are you going to introduce him to us?" Ignored Olive with a new question.

"Yes, well…you see… about that... I think it will take a while for that. Like a very good while because Damian is... let's say a little bit special when it comes to meeting people. He doesn't want to call for attention, just between the two of us!" Commented Maps with some grief to then make a fist with his hand in a sign of determination. "But don't worry! I'm working on it!"

"Well, it seems you know how to handle the billionaire boy very well." Congratulated Colton to his friend.

"He may be a showoff, daddy's boy and even irritating sometimes. But once you get to know him, he's a good guy and I like to spend time with him whenever he can." Said Maps with a smile of happiness.

Olive and Colton looked at each other, convinced that Maps really liked spending time with this new guy and if she was happy, then they should be happy about it too. The two now stared at the biggest obstacle in this new relationship at the moment and was none other than Kyle, the older brother. Meanwhile, he had his eyes closed apparently processing everything he had heard from his little sister and then, after thinking for a while, gave a slight sigh, stood up and approached where she was.

"Maps." Said Kyle while putting his left hand on his sister's shoulder. "Maybe I don't know well enough this Damian guy... and most likely it's going to take a while for me to like him, but... if this guy makes you happy enough to be your boyfriend. I'm not going to oppose and I will not tell anything to mom and dad about these secret escapes you are having. What you think?"

"Huh?! Wait a minute!" Shouted Maps somewhat blushed. "B-Boyfriend? What the hell are you talking about, Kyle!?"

The reaction of the youngest of the Mizoguchi took everyone by surprise the same way as she made the " _illness_ " excuse from noon, especially to Olive who looked at her friend's expression with astonishment, making it appear that her assumption a few hours ago was completely wrong. Maps looked with eyes of anger and at the same time, with clear shame to his older brother who assumed there was something more with her billionaire friend.

"Aren't you guys... a couple?" Asked Olive somewhat disappointed.

"What!? He is my friend! Oh… my God. You thought... Damian and I were... please get out of my room! Now!" Begged Maps while pointing the door of her room.

"M-Maps listen to us! Is just that the way you acted and what you've been saying right now, we thought that you and he..." Explained Colton nervously.

"Out!" Shouted Maps once again.

The shouts of the adventurous teenager caused several other girls in the bedrooms to wake up and quickly turn on the lights. If Colton and Kyle were seen at this time and in this specific place, both were going to have serious problems with the principal, so they ran away in a rush unlike Olive, who went to the door but not before seeing her best friend staring at the window, clearly in disgust with what she had heard. Maybe Silverlock had taken wrong after all and Maps was not really interested in that kind of thing yet. Although in some way, it would have seemed very interesting to see her with that mysterious boy.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Taking a Risk**

Damian was feeling uncomfortable sitting in one of the many benches that the mall center offered, while tapping his left foot to the floor multiple times in a clear sign of desperation. He was wearing a modern outfit for a boy around his age although it wasn't of his personal taste, alongside a cap on to hide his face. He stared at the crowd of civilians passing by with some sort of rejection, as he wasn't much of being in public places like this and even less as someone like them. But this time, it was an exception; all because one person insisted to go out and invite him with the money she saved after so many weeks. " _But why_?" was the only question that the son of Bruce Wayne asked to himself. He was one of the richest boys in the city and could easily pay whatever she was going to give him like no big deal, he couldn't find any logic in her decision to do all of this.

"-tt- This is stupid." Said Damian in low voice.

"Master Damian, I remind you that Miss Mizoguchi begged you after several weeks that she wanted to return the favor of so many appointments paid by you." Answered a voice that only Wayne could hear with his right ear, thanks to a tiny earpiece placed.

"She is taking a long time to get here, Pennyworth. I don't like it when she does that."

"Well not everyone has a limousine with a personal butler... or a special motorcycle... or a bat-plane."

It was hard to admit, but it was true. Maps did not have any sort of powers like Flash or Superman, nor special objects like his father or other known superheroes that could make her arrive on time; she was just an ordinary girl who, in some strange way that he couldn't find any answer so far, had been spending more time than he thought. He decided to look to his right and she wasn't there. Now into the left side of the mall and still no signs of her either, making him getting worried if Mia was really on her way or had actually been caught by some criminal or even worse, a supervillain.

Suddenly, he felt someone's presence in front of him and remained quiet for a while without saying a word; Damian put his sight to the center and his nerves diminished noticeably to become a feeling of calmness, when noticing that the person in front was the youngest Mizoguchi, smiling at him as she always did, but this time she dressed differently: She was wearing a blue jean with some scratches and a short-sleeved shirt with white and yellow stripes; completely different from her classic academy uniform. The only thing that could recognize her easily was her cheerful face, the backpack she was wearing, and her typical yellow flower in her hair that was present all the time.

"Hey!" Greet Maps.

"You are late."

"I know… I know. Blame that to the bus, but your faithful servant is finally here!" Said the girl while giving a slight bow.

"Child, you need to be more mature." Commented Damian with some embarrassment.

"What? Oh don't tell me that the billionaire kid feels embarrassed to go out with his friend." Laughed Maps while giving him a small pat on the shoulder.

"Let's just do this already."

"Sure! But first I want to know something: Why the cap?"

"I don't want anyone to see me interacting with you. They will think that I have gone mad or got infected by your stupidity." Answered the boy.

"Come on, I know you don't mean it."

"... I just don't want the paparazzi to see me and start following us." Checked Damian as he lowered the cap more to hide his face.

Maps looked at him for a few minutes, gave a small sigh and moved a little closer to her friend. Damian realized when he saw her feet sticking to his and looked up a little to see that her face was way closer, making him feel tense and even nervous to see that she was entering his personal space, although he did not want to say anything about it. He could see in more detail now her brown eyes, her freckles and especially her lips that formed a warm gesture. Meanwhile, she took Damian's cap and took it off to put it on the bench and smiled at him confidently.

"Why do you have to act such like a weirdo? You don't have to hide who you really are from others. Y'know that?" Said the girl smiling.

"But the paparazzi's won't leave us alone."

"So? Does it matter? I just want us to have fun!"

That last comment made Damian blush slightly. Was it really Maps who just said that a few seconds ago? For a moment he assumed that this girl was actually a villain or a robot pretending to be the young adventurer and lover of mysteries. However, he decided to keep up with her for the moment and took a step, trying to hide that blush on his cheeks focusing on different types of concentration and moving forward, while Mizoguchi was following his footsteps. All of this while they left the hat in its place and forgetting it completely.

"Hey! Wait for me! Where do you think you are going?"

"Somewhere!" Shouted Damian while walking without seeing her.

"You don't even know where I want to take you!" Exclaimed Maps while finally reaching.

"Very well then. What do you want to show me?"

"Onward, my faithful companion!"

Maps smiled remarkably while making slight jumps of excitement to then waving with her hands to follow her lead. Wayne on the other hand, looked around and saw how some of the people around from the mall looked at them or even stared at the seriousness of the boy, making him feel uncomfortable. " _Why are they staring at me? She is the weird one..._ " thought the boy, as he was just trying to be like one of them. Probably was because they discovered that the kid was none other than Bruce Wayne's son or perhaps because he was completely opposite to the cheerful young lady's attitude who was still guiding him through the different stores in the mall. He needed to consult with someone and he sure knew who to turn to in a situation like this.

"Pennyworth. Can you hear me?" Commented Damian as he touched the earphone.

"Loud and clear, Master Damian."

"I'm starting to regret all of this."

"Don't tell me you're going to let down Miss Mizoguchi right now, are you?"

"No! Of course I don't want to do that!" Exclaimed Wayne irritably until he realized what he said. "...Is just that there should be another way to pass the time without everyone staring at me."

"Well, if it helps you in something... imagine that you both are alone and there is no one else." Suggested the butler.

"When this is all over, I'm going to patrol the streets."

"A very effective way to let that stress of yours go away, I would say. And please, try to have fun with her."

The communication with Alfred once again went off and Damian returned to focus on the current situation, only to realize that now Maps was staring at him curiously, as if she was suspecting him for a few minutes. Could it be that maybe she saw him talking to his butler thanks to the headset? He doubted it, she didn't have a super sight to guess that he had the artifact in his ear, but Wayne needed to think for a quick response.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing." Answered Damian quickly.

"I saw you doing something." Accused Maps with an expression of seriousness.

"Doing what then?"

"You were... talking... with yourself."

"… What?"

"You were talking alone, dude!" Said the girl in a slight tone of mockery while pointing it with her finger.

"-tt- Think whatever you want."

Maps laughed by seeing the expression of annoyance that her friend had. She liked to annoy him in that way to see the faces he put; but Damian knew it was always with good intentions and she did this just to cheer him up a bit and get him out of the daily routine.

After walking through many of the stores, Mizoguchi stopped and bend one of her knees and raised her arms to then point out what was the arcade room, leaving a Damian not so surprised at the choice of the girl.

"Ta-dah! We arrived!"

"You brought me here to play video games."

"Correction: I brought us here to play video games!"

"I don't like video games, Maps. At all."

"You'll see that after a few ones, you will love it!"

"I'm not going to enter. I'm mean it." Replied Damian annoyed.

"Gosh, sometimes you make me go mad." Complained Maps as she stood up and approached him.

"W-What are you doing, child? Stop there!"

She didn't say anything, just approached him and took his right hand with hers to hold it tightly and pull him to enter the game room. Damian could not react in time and he let himself be carried away by her impulse, trying to get away without success no matter how he tried. But did he really want to? As he watched with his own eyes the different games and the young people crossing each other's path and the bright lights as well, all of this changed: Everything started to became slower, the people disappeared as well as the loud noises around while he felt how warm and soft her hand was, giving even a slight desire to stay like this for a few more minutes. Wayne shook his head in order to return to reality: This had to be the work of a villain or probably Maps actually had some kind of power. How was it possible that she could do this kind of thing and mostly to him, the future heir of Bruce Wayne and grandson of the lethal Ra's al Ghul?

Mizoguchi went to the attention center and with a twenty-dollar bill, bought some coins while still holding the hand of the boy. She didn't seem to have any intention of letting him go at all because if she did, it was most likely that the presumptuous boy would go away from there to complain about everything as he always did. Finally receiving the coins, the girl went to some type of game that could find and that would be of the like of Damian, until she found it in a game of "Whack-A-mole".

"I'm sure you will love this game!" Said Mia while inserting a coin.

"Maps..."

"You just have to grab the hammer..."

"Maps."

"... And hit the moles upon appearing. The more you hit, more tickets we will earn!"

"Maps!" Shouted Damian.

"What!?" Shouted Maps.

"... I could play better if you let go of my hand."

Maps stood silent for a few minutes after Damian's response, then looked down and saw that she was still holding his hand. Somehow with this situation, she began to remember the first time they met: Where they went through a very similar scenario, although now there wasn't any effect of the so called " _magic pen_ ". A very peculiar but funny adventure now that she was thinking about it. Then, another memory came to her mind and it was the comment that her older brother Kyle mentioned to her when he thought both Wayne and she were having a relationship rather than being friends. This made the youngest of the Mizoguchi blush and let go of her hand at last and looking away to hide the embarrassment. Why did she felt bothered of doing this now if recently she didn't have any trouble with it? There was no time for explanations, she suddenly handed the game's sledgehammer straight to his chest.

"J-Just play already!" Exclaimed Maps while still looking away.

"-tt- No need to tell me twice. I already know what I have to do."

As soon as the first mechanical mole came out, Wayne visualized nimbly the image of someone and hit it successfully to aim right at the next one that came out and consequently. It was easy for him to guess the sequence of each one of them, making the usual training in the bat-cave something of a kind of child's play compared to this. Maps on the other hand watched in admiration as her friend proved his skills in the game so easily that he could reach the maximum score until the time ended, resulting in hundreds of prize tickets appearing and Damian leaving the hammer in its place, but still maintaining his expression of coolness.

"That… was… amazing! How did you hit so many in such a short time?" Asked Maps while collecting the tickets.

"I just imagined someone I don't like."

"Oh. Can I ask who?"

"Let's just say his name is Tim." Said Damian with an arrogant smile.

"Well then: Did you like the game?"

"Its... curious."

"Ha! Then you did like it." Confirmed Maps while collecting tickets. "Should we go the next game?"

Damian stood still as he stared at the youngest of the Mizoguchi being happy about what just happened. He didn't want to admit it, but the boy was really feeling an interest for wanting to try another of these games and if it was necessary to use, even a bit of physical violence, he had no problem trying it. Still, he didn't know which another attraction could go now and felt a bit of embarrassment, but decided to ask something, just not in the way he thought.

"Does that mean you're going to take my hand again?" Asked Damian suddenly.

Both of them looked at each other silently after the question. He expected her to say something while she tried to process what she just heard. Why were both feeling so nervous suddenly? This was just a hang out as friends after all. Maps lips trembled and wanted to say something, while her right hand slightly seemed to rise to reach the son of Bruce Wayne; until a slight tremor followed by a loud sound sounded in the distance scaring not only both, but also everyone who was in the game room.

Damian jumped into Maps by surprise and both fell to the ground to then cover at one of the aerial hockey tables, as they watched hundreds of people ran around in panic, followed by sounds of bursts of gunfire made by some masked men wearing bulletproof vests and high precision rifles. Wayne knew something was wrong and needed to act quickly, there was no time to guess their motives, he had to give a signal to either his father or one of his brothers about what was happening in this place full with civilians, but he was more worried about someone else: Maps. If she allowed herself to be shown to these criminals she could be hurt or even worse, something he would never forgive. No, he was not going to let these petty criminals ruin this moment that both youngsters were enjoying.

"C-Crap! What's going on!?" Shouted Maps before being silenced by the boy's hand.

"Silence, you fool!" Said Damian in a low voice. "Do you want to give them our position?"

"Then what do we do?!" Whispered the girl.

"These guys are prepared. A false move and we will end becoming like cheese."

"D-Did you just make a joke!?"

"Maps. I need you to stay here, I'll go get some help."

"Ok, that's definitely a joke!" Commented her while being ignored by the young billionaire who began to walk stealthily. "Damian? Damian! God, this boy!"

Evading several of the armed thugs with stealth, Wayne activated the earpiece of his ear as he ran through the corridors of the mall to hide in different parts: benches, pots with large plants, food carts or corners. It was here that Alfred quickly responded the call, clearly sounding worried.

"Pennyworth."

"Master Damian! Are you alright?" Asked the butler.

"-tt- Of course I'm fine. A band of armed robbers has entered and is stealing everything that has value in here. Can you access the cameras of the mall?"

"Certainly." Replied Alfred. "I can see that there are about fifteen individuals and they all seem to have high caliber weapons, military class."

"Penguin." Commented the boy angrily as he looked around. "He must have sold those smuggled weapons and whatever they are going to steal now, they will pay their debt."

"What about Miss Mizoguchi? Is she safe?" Asked again Alfred, but with more concern.

"For the moment. I just hope that fool doesn't do something stupid that could compromise me. I'll need my suit right now."

"Your package is on the way to the rooftop, Master Damian. Good luck and please, be careful with Miss Mizoguchi."

"I'll keep that in mind, Pennyworth." Damian finished before cutting the communication and running to the emergency stairs.

Opening the door, young Wayne took long jumps through the railings to quickly access the top floor that led to the roof of the mall. Once outside and verifying that there were no one around, a box fell before his very own eyes dropped by a drone that quickly left the scene; the box opened on its own to show a small briefcase which Damian introduced his hand for a scan of his fingerprints, resulting in access granted and the briefcase was opened to show a costume that only he knew better than anyone : A red suit with a big R on his chest, along with a cape big enough to cover his head, boots and gloves made to the measure, a belt with multiple devices, a mask to cover his eyes and above all a sword, his usual weapon. It was time for Damian Wayne to become the boy wonder also known as Robin.

Maps remained hidden in the same place that her friend left while a couple of thieves inspected the safe of the arcade room. She knew that leaving was the worst option possible and there were only two alternatives: Wait for the police to come or for the dark knight himself to come and teach these guys a lesson. In fact, that last option sounded way much better since she wanted to see Batman in action doing his typical jumps and blows, but that visualization she had in her mind was stopped by one of the criminals who entered the arcade running with clear terror in his eyes.

"You have to come help us!" Yelled the thief before catching his breath.

"What happen?" Asked the one who was putting bills in the briefcase.

"We got company!"

"The bat?"

"No... it's the brat. He broke Mike's arm like nothing and Carlos is unconscious!"

"Robin!?" Asked the other robber anxiously before reloading his rifle. "That brat broke my ankle and ribs last time! It's time to put a bullet in that meddler's head!"

The three thieves left the store quickly while the youngest of the Mizoguchi had been listening to the whole conversation clearly till the end, and then went out of hiding when it was safe. Robin was here? That meant that Damian had really got the help he needed at the moment, but now there was a new question: Where was her friend, the billionaire boy, right now? He could not have left her like that, he was not that kind of person and she didn't want to accept it, but she also had to admit that he was probably hiding somewhere else and who knew if he needed help now. Maps took courage and from her backpack she took out something she always kept in case of emergencies: The batarang that Wayne gave her the first time they met, it was finally time to put into practice the many hours she spent throwing the object in her room.

Robin had already incapacitated at least nine of the attackers in separate ways or sometimes when they were two together. A good strategy that he learned thanks to his father and was to give the others the factor of fear, because none of them would guess where the boy wonder was and in the middle of the panic, he could knock out or break their arms or legs. However, in the mind of the boy came the image of Maps hidden and probably scared during all the chaos that was happening; he needed to finish this quickly and take her out of this place. His concern changed suddenly when he heard five of the remaining criminals coming, he had to get rid of them before going to Mizoguchi, so he took acrobatic jumps to push himself up to a higher floor and take out his personal batarangs. He waited for the ideal moment and when he saw the opportunity, he fired his weapons at theirs that were broken and dismantled easily. Damian launched himself at them, falling right in the middle and drawing his sword, ready for combat.

"I hope for your sake that at least you imbeciles can give me a decent fight. You have ruined a very important event for me and now I am in a bad mood." Said Robin with a smile.

None of them bother to answer him, they just jumped straight at him grabbing on the road different objects like chairs, tubes, boxes or the first thing they could find and use it as a weapon. Using his sword, Robin cut all of the objects without cutting the enemy and hitting them with some kicks, punches and jumps to avoid attacks, this was a piece of cake for him. One by one, they began to fall until finally the last one received a blow to the head with the handle of the sword, to then clean with his glove the dirt that had the edge after so many cuts. He began to count how many there were in total up to now and he came up with the surprise that there was only one left, but the question was: Where would the latter be?

"Don't move, you stupid brat!" Called a low voice from above in the second floor.

Robin looked up and could see that his answer was right there, in front of his eyes. The only one left standing of this group was pointing at him with a rifle in the open field and ready for any attempt at movement, giving the boy wonder a chance to either dodge or receive a bullet somewhere in his body. He decided to give him time and play psychologically with this fool while preparing a surprise with his grappling gun, hidden thanks to his cloak.

"Put down the weapon and your punishment will not be as painful as the one your companions took. Probably." Ordered Robin.

"You're in no position to give orders here!"

"Or what? Are you going to shoot me?"

"You think I'm not going to do it!?" Shouted the remaining thief.

"Oh, I know you want to do that. In fact, I dare you to pull that trigger." Said Robin with tease.

The thug knew something was wrong. It was not normal for a boy to insist that he be shot unless he was plotting something, although the mere idea of ending once and for all with Batman's faithful companion would not only give this guy a great reputation in the world of the scum of Gotham, but the Penguin himself would pay him a reward greater than he could ever imagine. That same ambition was what led him to finally make the decision to shoot him, so his finger was a few millimeters from pressing the trigger; when a peculiar sound sounded near his ear and then he felt a strong blow to the head that knocked him down, causing him to fall to the first floor but still breathing. Robin looked surprised at this and saw that what struck this man turned out to be a batarang that was not the one he used, but the shape of his father's bat. Did Batman save him?

The scream of a girl sounded right after this, but not one of fear or shock. It was actually one of happiness. Robin looked up quickly and could see none other than Maps jumping with excitement to see that her shot was a total success and with more reason now that she also saved the life the boy wonder; Damian couldn't think that, of all the people he knew, she was the one who saved him. That feeling of surprise was then replaced by irritation, seeing that she had risked her own life to save him from a dangerous criminal and that was the least he wanted to imagine: To see her in danger. Taking a drastic action, Robin grabbed Maps' batarang and now using his grappling gun, he quickly climbed to where the youngest of the Mizoguchi was.

"Did you see that, Robin?!" Shouted Maps happily. "I hit him in the head!"

"Shut up." Said the costumed hero to then take her by the hand surprisingly.

Maps did not understand what was going on. In her mind she thought that with this, Robin himself would thank him personally and perhaps, as a reward, would lead her to see none other than Batman or even make her an honorary Robin. However, by the expression of annoyance that was reflected on his face, that was not going to happen; all of this while the superhero reached a zone full of windows that led to the roof to fire his gun with a hook until it was tight enough to jump.

"Hold tight." Ordered Robin.

"With what?"

"Anything, just do it."

The girl simply hugged Robin and he blushed because of it, but wasn't carried away by his emotions at a time like this. He pressed a button of the gun and both jumped quickly as if they did not leave any trace until they reached for the rooftop. Meanwhile, the police sirens sounded as a sign of arriving followed by a few squads of special units entering the mall, only to find the whole group of criminals piled and defeated but not the responsible for such heroic action, it didn't matter who it was, since the danger was over and it only involved making the arrest and the corresponding imprisonment.

In this new scenario there would be no problems of interruptions as Robin walked away from Maps a little to turn his back and take a few deep breaths, while trying to relax after everything that had just happened. She looked at the place where both youngsters had just left and watched as law enforcement officers picked up the bodies of the criminals and took them away, as well as attending to the frightened civilians; with this Maps was satisfied with her work, she had saved the day even though technically she only did one thing.

"What did you think about my performance, Robin? Pretty good for an amateur, am I right?"

"Don't you ever do that again!"

"Do what?"

"How the hell does it occur to you to appear out of nowhere?" Claimed Robin with clear annoyance.

"Hey! Maybe a " _thanks for saving me, Maps!._ " would be ideal. Don't you think?

"I had everything under control until you interfered with your stupid act!"

"Oh please, you were just standing there and that guy was going to shoot you." Said the girl while pointing her finger on his forehead. "Boom! Right here!"

"This is not a game, Mizoguchi! You could have failed and if he saw you...!"

He remained silent. The mere thought of thinking about what might have happened afterwards put him in a situation of conflict with himself. It was only thanks to the mask and the hood of his cloak that prevented him from seeing his worried face, while Maps only wait to know the response of his superhero friend. The way he acted was making her impatient and she could not imagine the boy wonder like this.

"... If he saw you he could have been shot and... I wouldn't know what would happen next." Said Robin with slight guilt.

She was stunned. Not by the explanation of that possibility he had just mentioned, but in fact of seeing the boy wonder acting with sadness with her own eyes. Never in her life did she think that he, a superhero, could act in that way and she began to ask herself: " _Why?_ " From what she could remember until now, both had seen each other only twice and with this one, it would be the third, but he seemed to behave as if he had known her for a long time and even treated her as if she were someone really important. Then why she was feeling a need to comfort him if she was just an ordinary girl? Without thinking, Maps approached her and gave her a light hug.

"Hey, easy there... what matters is that it didn't happen and we were able to save the day!" Said the girl with encouragement.

"You don't get it."

"Get what? It was a life or death situation; I couldn't just let my superhero friend get hurt or something!" Commented Maps with a laugh. "You would have done the same as me if we changed roles! Tell me what I have to understand then."

"That I care about you, Mizoguchi!" Said Robin instantly to then process what he just said and blush.

After that statement, Maps stopped the hug and step back a little to mark distance, while looking at him with open eyes. Did Robin really said he cared about her? There wasn't any logic for the adventurous girl: It was not as if both had much interaction with each other, but that attitude of his was now too strange and, even so, she felt confused. First it was with Damian in the arcade room and now this. What was happening to her? She felt nervous and her cheeks were starting to warm up, but she liked it. It was here that the image of Damian came to her mind followed by a tremendous concern to know the whereabouts of his bitter and billionaire friend.

"T-That's right! Damian said he was going to bring help and I haven't seen him until now! I have to look for him!" Exclaimed Maps still blushing and nervous.

"Y-Yes! I have to go, too. Batman... he needs me." Replied the boy wonder the same way.

"So... I guess… this is a goodbye. For the moment." Said Maps with a light laugh to calm the tense atmosphere.

"I guess... hey listen, I want you to take this." Said Robin while handing her a round object with his characteristic logo from his utility belt. "I know you have that batarang to defend yourself, but I don't want you to risk yourself again so... if there's an emergency that you cannot handle... just press it and I will be there.

"Two objects of Batman and Robin?! I-I can't handle with this indescribable feeling!"

"But only use it in extreme cases! Do not waste my time rescuing cats from trees or something like that!" Warned Robin as a condition.

Maps laughed at that kind of example. She couldn't imagine the superhero actually climbing a tree to take a grumpy cat down, but beating hundreds of criminals in an alley now that was something she considered very amazing and most probably. In fact, since she met Robin personally thanks to Wayne, she saw the young superhero as one of the most amazing people she had ever seen with her own eyes and today, he really showed off by beaten all those troublemakers with great ease. Maps hoped to see him again perhaps under other circumstances so, to make sure they meet again, she simply got closer to him and, without giving him any warning, approached to his face and gave him a light kiss on the cheek, taking him off guard and see that his face was as red as a tomato.

"Thank you for that awesome show you did down there, boy wonder." Said Mizoguchi followed by a wink and a tender smile.

Robin babbled without being able to utter a single word, this really was some kind of power that Maps possessed because it had such a strong effect that it was making him go nervous, his heart was beating at an accelerated speed and making him go out of balance to the point that he needed to escape to a safe place. Were these the same effects that the victims of Poison Ivy felt when she used her toxins on them? There was no time to think about it, he needed to leave now; so the hero ran quickly to one end of the building and took a leap of faith, followed by shooting his grappling gun and propelling himself into a taller building, flying through the air. All of this while the youngest Mizoguchi looked at him and smiled at the spectacle she had just witnessed with her eyes tonight.


End file.
